Left Behind
by Flappy741
Summary: When Bunker 29 is attacked, Brigitte and DVa get left behind. (MEKAmechanic/MEKAnic)
1. Chapter 1

"Welcome to Bunker 29!" exclaimed Reinhardt.

The giant, muscular godfather gave Brigitte a hard slap on the back, propelling her into the aircraft carrier hanger. The entire room was the size of 4x3 soccer fields put together and smelled of gasoline fumes and metals. White light flared into her eyes from the heavy lightbulbs dangling seventy feet above them, the windows along the walls with blue skies outside, and the silver metallic luster from everywhere: the bolted-down floorboards that mirrored all the fighter jets and bombers inside, the walls with racks of assault weapons, launchers, and heavy artillery, and even the ceiling, with black-painted pipes crisscrossing and letting out steam. It was the kind of place where if you accidentally bang your bone against anything, it was going to hurt. Screeches, shouts, and chatter echoed all throughout the room with minty-fresh air as soldiers in tundra camouflage were occupied with driving carts that pulled heavy equipment, moving crates, adjusting the aircrafts, or eating food from lunchboxes. The left wall about 350 meters away from where Reinhardt and she stood was a massive blast door with "29" written in fading paint.

Brigitte had mixed feelings as she examined the hanger. Already, she felt self-conscious as she and Reinhardt wore completely different armor from the soldiers: heavy steel plated everywhere like medieval knights, minus the helmet for her. Parts of her armor were painted orange-yellow so that it blended in with miniature molten cores that enhanced her suit and weapon, an extendable mace. Reinhardt's armor was similar, except for the small tubes that fastened the armor since his needed more power to move in. He had a tired warrior's blue eyes and a turf of white hair with deep wrinkles but was now wearing a trident-tipped helmet. Her two locks from her red-brown hair fell over her yellow chest plate as her ponytail on top of her head fell into the cushioned interior of her armor. Plus, Brigitte didn't see any weaponry that _she_ was familiar with. "Where are the defense systems? Papa told me there were heavy pulse cannons and barriers here."

Reinhardt laughed heartedly. "There are! The control panel for the electromagnetic dome barrier is at the other corner of the bunker. And for the pulse cannons, didn't you see them on our way up the mountain path?"

Brigitte shook her head as they began to walk. "No, you're kidding me. Those were _turrets_ along the mountain ranges. They might as well be tiny crossbows if the omnic monstrosity shows up."

"It won't get this far," Reinhardt insisted. He waved to a trio of soldiers sitting on a crate and eating ham sandwiches before continuing, "the turrets are for the bastion units, or so Torbjorn has told me. The monstrosity can only crawl a certain distance onto the shores."

"Thousands of miles, Reinhardt, _thousands_ of miles. Mount Whitney is within thousands of miles."

"Ah, quit your blabberin'! We'll slay that beast if it comes! Today, tomorrow, anytime!"

Brigette sighed but didn't bother to say anymore. Instead, she observed all the soldiers chatting together as they walked around crates and aircraft like a maze. She was _very_ aware of the curious glances that were thrown their way. She smiled and waved whenever she accidentally made direct eye contact with any of them, who also smiled and waved back. Some of them even blushed.

As they ducked under a white fighter jet's broken landing wheels and turned the corner around a tower of crates, the first thing Brigitte saw was the huge pink…plane, perhaps? It was difficult to describe the machine as tall a Reinhardt with the mechanical structure of a rabbit, duel cannons for hands, jet thrusters on its back, and massive stickers plastered over it like race cars. Four Korean soldiers were busy loading in missiles the size of their hands and filling the vehicle with fuel as a young, Korean girl was busy in the cockpit, drinking mountain dew in one hand while controlling a retro, space videogame being projected from above the tinted-green windshields. Brigitte assumed she was the pilot, judging from her multicolored suit as tight as a wet suit for surfing and with sponsorship stickers all around, but the pink-whiskers face paint and gaming headset through her off. She had a slim body, with oval-brown eyes, thin eyebrows, a small nose, pale-white complexion, and long red-brown hair, a shade darker than her own. As they walked by, they heard her cheer as the "NEXT LEVEL" flashed across the projection. "New high score! Let's see how far I can get with your guy's support!"

Reinhardt chuckled when they were far away, walking in-between rows of midnight-black helicopters. The smell of gas at first became thicker, but Brigitte barely noticed. "Have you heard of DVa?"

"The girl in the…the…" Brigitte gave up and gestured her head towards the vehicle. "The pink think?"

"Yes. A fine MEKA pilot she is! It's fortunate the Korean army lent us their MEKA strike squad fighters to combat that lumbering beast!"

"There's more of them?"

"So I've heard. One in each of the bunkers throughout the Sierra Nevada mountain range. But that's not important!" Reinhardt patted down his armor until he patted his abdomen, opening a hidden pocket. He carefully pulled out a sturdy, rolled up poster. "I was wondering if you could assist me with something."

Brigitte gave a suspicious smile, raising an eyebrow. "I _am_ your squire, Reinhardt, but if this is some 'can you unclog the to—"

He suddenly boomed with laughter as a platoon of glancing soldiers marched by. One lost rhythm and tripped but scurried back into the beat as they went on. Reinhardt bent down next to Brigitte. "I'm hoping," he whispered, "we can keep quiet about those kinds of things. And also, this." He handed Brigitte the poster. She quickly unrolled it to get a quick glance before rolling it up in her hand, processing what she saw. "Hero of My Storm 2?" she asked. "Was the center person also ?"

"It's—" he cleared his throat, "—for a friend."

She laughed lightly. "Ok. But she's famous, then?"

 _"Famous!?"_ Reinhardt boomed again with laughter. "She's a world icon! I'm surprised you haven't heard of her!"

"Maybe because I'm too busy patching up your armor while you're watching T.V. in the trailer?" she asked while opening up a section of her armor and placing the poster inside.

"You mean busy making sure _justice_ is being done! Just like before we got here! Lone Pine!"

"Rein, you alre—"

"Four thugs robbing a young man! I was just walking past the pharmacy store when…"

Brigitte rolled her eyes and listened to his story once again. By its end, they had finished walking across the entire floor, arriving at the opposite corner of the room. Monitors covered the wall with lab-coat dressed soldiers sitting beneath them, watching different parts of the mountain range and the horizon. The other mountains appeared as white anthills, covered in thick white rocks the size of small icebergs that can float in the water. Dotting the range where mounted, self-automated duel turrets, camouflaged to blend in with the mountains. They were the size of observatories, their barrels fixed on the afternoon horizon the size of the 's MEKA.

"That's…impressive." Brigitte was trying to find the energy barrier, but nothing in the monitors hinted it was around. One of the lab-coat soldiers, a Hispanic woman with her dark hair in a bun, turned around at her voice. She eyed Reinhardt and smiled in a welcome matter. "Crusader. Welcome."

"Sancha. Greetings!" He and Brigitte slowed to a stop, Reinhardt gesturing towards his squire. "This is Brigitte Lindholm, daughter of Torbjörn."

"[Hi]!" she said in Swedish and held up a hand.

"[Hello]," Sancha greeted back in Spanish and shook her hand. "I know your father. I must say, I didn't expect you to be…" her voice died as she struggled to speak.

Brigitte shook her head with a chuckle. "I take after my mother. She's about my height."

"I see. Sorry if I've offended you."

"None taken."

Reinhardt bent over to give Brigitte a massive slap on the back, almost toppling her over. Her disturb feeling turned to surprise as she turned around. Reinhardt had taken off his helmet, gleaming down at her with an old smile. "I must go, but not for long. Farewell."

He also looked like it was their last time together. Brigitte laughed nervously. "Rein, I'm only being stationed here for a few days to run a maintenance check on defense systems. We'll see each other again soon." She smirked. "Maybe you just can't live without me?"

"Hah! I've been fighting omnics long before you were born! Fought _hundreds_ of battles! I think I'll be alive for another few days."

Brigitte didn't correct his exaggeration. Reinhardt slid his helmet back on before holding out his hand. Brigitte slapped and gripped it firmly, feeling something fill her hand unexpectedly. They let go, and she found herself holding an old Overwatch medallion. As she held it in confusion, Reinhardt turned around. "I'll be expecting that back!" he yelled.

Brigitte sighed. "Yes, dad!"

She slid the medallion into a slot in her armor and watched Reinhardt turn around a massive engine disconnected from a rocket ship. Once out of sight, she turned back to Sancha. "Where do I start?"


	2. Chapter 2

For the next few days, Brigitte spent her time flying from bunker to bunker and turret to turret. She was slowed at first from meeting all the new people who greeted her but learned to shorten her greetings to just handshakes before checking up on everything. All the other bunkers were the same: an aircraft hangar filled with combat vehicles and a cafeteria and living quarters beneath it, built into the mountain. Turrets were on every mountain without a bunker, so she spent a lot of time getting to know the range. On the last scheduled day of her stationing, she found herself back in Bunker 29 walking across the hanger, ready to report back to Sancha.

She took the same path on her first day with Reinhardt, so eventually, she ran into DVa again. This time as she turned around the crates, the girl was laying on top of her MEKA like a cover girl, gently smiling and holding up a peace sign for a group of blushing soldiers on the ground, flashing their phone cameras. For some unknown reason, Brigitte was rubbed in a bad way. Even though Brigitte had only seen her once before, she didn't seem to be the hard-working kind. She understood why she was an idol—her flawless hair, her smooth face, her thin body—but outside of that, what was there to admire? She was a poster girl.

Brigitte opened up her armor and took out the poster Reinhardt gave her as DVa signed various things from the soldiers, including an assault rifle and a combat knife. When the small entourage dispersed, Brigitte filled in where they stood. She glanced up at DVa, who was smiling back cheerfully. Her painted whiskers reminded her of her cats back home, which made her relax unexpectedly. "Hiya!" DVa chirped as she loosely waved. She noticed the rolled-up poster in Brigitte's hand. "Is that for me to sign?"

"Uh, it is." DVa grabbed the poster, slightly touching Brigitte's hand in the process, and began signing while humming. It felt like DVa thought she was a fan. "It's for my godfather, Reinhardt."

"Reinhardt!" In mid-signing, DVa shot to her feet, standing on top of her MEKA, and scanned the hanger. "Is he here?"

"He's scheduled to come back today, but not yet." Brigitte frowned. "Do you know him?"

DVa didn't answer immediately. The excitement in her eyes dwindled as she sat back down to finish signing the poster. "I saw him once years ago, when—" she stopped abruptly, hesitating, before saying, "when my home was destroyed."

"Oh." Brigitte wasn't too sure how to respond to that. She knew machines, about numerous problems they could have, and how to fix them. But with people, she discovered what she said sometimes worsened things. "I—"

She stopped in mid-thought as DVa shoved the poster towards her. "If you see Reinhardt today, can you tell him I said 'hi'?"

Brigitte nodded, taking the poster back. She placed it back into her suit and was about to move on before DVa held out a hand. She had removed her glove, which was clenched inside her other hand. "My actual name is Hana. Nice to meet you!"

Brigitte's body went into routine, as how she greeted others for the past few days. Although she wore brown gloves, she didn't remove them. She clasped DVa's bare hand firmly and shook. "Brigitte Lindholm."

Brigitte realized in that moment how rude that was, and so did DVa. "Ah, my apologies!" she said quickly while taking off her glove. She reshook DVa's hand. "Been meeting tons of people today and shaking their hand. You know what it's like."

DVa maintained a poker face for a second before smiling. "Of course! Don't worry about." The both slid back on their gloves. As Brigitte turned, she heard DVa call out, "[Later]!" in Korean. She didn't respond back.

Brigitte made her way back to the corner of the hanger, the area filled with monitors. She eyed Sancha sitting down and strode over, removing a flash drive from a kink in her armor. "Sancha, here."

Sancha turned around just as Brigitte placed the flash drive in her hand. "That's the analysis of each bunker and turret. All that's left is the electromagnetic dome barrier."

Sancha nodded and clutched the data. "Very good. Let's analyze it's content." She picked up a clipboard with USB slots on its side from the desk in the corner. On plugging it in, a green projection of data appeared over the board the size of a fish tank. Sancha eyed everything, and slowly looked shocked. "This…this is…" the words seemed stuck in her throat.

Brigitte frowned. "Ma'am, is everything alright?"

She eyed Brigitte with deadly seriousness. "Are you _sure_ you're 100% accurate with everything here?"

"Yes. With all due respect, I wouldn't have given it to you if I thought any of the information was false."

"Oh…no!" She unplugged the flash drive from the board and strode quickly to an old-fashion wall telephone. She picked it up, punched in a few numbers, and waited.

"Umm," Brigitte scratched her head, "may I know what's going on?"

"The omnics somehow know the state of everything here as well as we do, sometimes beforehand," she explained in a panicked manner. "We are constantly trying to improve the turrets and bunkers in order to keep up with the monstrosity's pace of adaptation. We had scheduled everything to be upgraded by last week, but the data is telling me the upgrades never went through. That means our last improvement was a month ago! And if the monstrosity is aware of this…"

She didn't finish. Brigitte clenched her mace. "What can I do to help?"

Sancha didn't respond to her. The phone clicked. "General Vorn! I have dire news!" She hastily explained everything while Brigitte stood around. Everyone around her who noticed how frantic she was, including the scientists sitting down and soldiers passing by, stopped what they were doing to listen in. When she was done, she listened on the other side, murmuring a few things before hanging up. She looked at everyone. "Prepare to evacuate! _Now!_ "

With that, everyone but Brigitte began to hussle, collecting papers or arming the weapons while running. Sancha skipped to a desk with a speaker-com microphone plugged into the wall. She snatched it and pushed a button, triggering sirens to blare throughout the hanger. Red and yellow lights above the heavy lights dangling from the ceiling flashed as Sancha announced through surround speakers, "Everyone, prepare to evacuate! All pilots, man your vehicles. Everyone else, load up! Fighter jets and bombers, defend the skyway! The rest of the pilots, rondeau at Pheonix, Arizona! "

Everyone was scattered and running like ants whose trail was cut off. The shouting, the screeching of wheels and feet, and the smell of gas were all amplified. Brigitte could almost taste the gas, too. Sancha put down the mic and eyed Brigitte. "Come with me. We need to get to Bunker 1."

Sancha fast-walked towards the nearest ship, a space shuttle completely painted black, with Brigitte close behind. From behind them, the massive blast door began to slowly slide up, letting in freezing winds and bright light. Brigitte could see other blast doors from different camouflaged bunkers along the mountain range open up and turrets aiming their barrels towards the clear blue sky. She couldn't figure out why they aimed up until she saw them: rust-colored, care-package-shaped omnics raining down from the sky in hundreds.

Brigitte couldn't explain why, probably instinct, but she rushed forward to grab Sancha's hand. "Watch out!" she cried just as one of the omnics crashed through the ceiling, letting in more sunlight and making rocks and pipe debris fall from the hole in the ceiling. As the omnic made direct impact with the front of the shuttle, the front half of it exploded, lighting the air around it in fire. Brigitte pulled the screaming Sancha behind her with one hand and activated her shield with her other arm. A wave of heat and energy pushed against her as shrapnel banged against her barrier, but Brigitte held steady. Smoke rapidly formed and began to be pushed around by the winds outside. Pieces of the ship were scattered around the hanger as some soldiers looked at the wreckage in shock while others ran faster.

"N-no," Sancha stuttered as she crawled back onto her feet, her legs trembling lightly. "Not now! Not _already_!"


	3. Chapter 3

Brigitte wished she could've stopped what came next.

As soon as she heard the powerful rotary turret, bullets flew from the smokey wreckage, mowing running soldiers. The consistent wind eventually put out the rest of the smoke to reveal the bastion unit, mounted inside its own crater from the metal. Several soldiers from the sides opened fire with assault rifles, and it eventually broke down before it could harm anyone else.

But just as a platoon of soldiers ran to the wounded ones laying on the ground, five more omnics came crashing through the ceiling. The hanger trembled, unbalancing everyone as the ceiling began to creak and shift, its pipes bending or exploding and releasing plummets of steam. Brigitte turned and offered a hand for Sancha as more chaos broke loose: engines humming as bombers and jets began to lift off the ground, the other bastion units beginning to shoot around, and soldiers firing back with exploding missiles and more rifles. Even though they were still next to the blast door, the air warmed up dramatically. Beads of sweat began to form on Brigitte's forehead as she pulled Sancha up. "What now?" she shouted.

They both looked around at the pandemonium. Sancha clenched her draw and pointed at a carrier plane with soldiers loading into the back dropoff platform, 200 meters away. "Meet me at that ship instead!" she yelled back. "Try and bring one of the wounded with you! _Go_!"

They split up, Sancha drawing a handgun from a pocket inside her coat and Brigitte sprinting towards a lone, bleeding soldier on the ground, clenching his knee. Brigitte felt the push of a few stray bullets hitting her as she leaped through a crossfire, but she didn't stop. Her shield only worked if she was holding it steady and time was of the essence. The bastion unit that saw her began to target her, but just before it could turn fast enough, a volley of missiles exploded onto it, blowing it up. Brigitte watched while she ran as DVa's pink MEKA flew around her, making a U-turn. "DVa: 2! Bad Guys: 0!" she exclaimed. "Time to make it 3!"

She boosted her thrusters, flying over the wreckage of a bomber with one of its wings torn off and its plating dotted with bullet holes. Brigitte slid on her knees as she reached the wounded soldier. Blood soaked the white-grey fabric near his knee as he clutched it. The blond guy was sobbing, moving his head with great effort to make eye contact with Brigitte.

"You're going to be alright!" she assured him. "Bear with me!"

She latched her mace to her hip and scooped him up around his back and legs, carrying him princess style. Lifting him up, she ran as jets, bombers, and helicopters began to fly out, vrooming with gusts of air rushing past Brigitte. The echoing in the hanger was quieter, as Brigitte noticed the rest of the bastion units were destroyed. The ceiling creaked, dropping more rocks from the holes. The only vehicles left that were operational were the carrier plane and DVa's mech. DVa stood ready near the ship as two soldiers waited for Brigitte at the drop-off in the back. As Brigitte turned and ran into the ship, the two waiting soldiers taking the wounded one, the drawbridge flipped closed while DVa's mech began to fly forward.

The cockpit smelled of gunpowder, blood, and sweat. In a space slightly larger than a school bus, a dozen soldiers were seated with their rifles at arms. Up front were the two main seats, the passenger seat occupied by Sancha and the other a pilot. As the ship began to lift off, turning to face the open pathway to a sky filled with shooting airships and plasma bullets crisscrossing, Sancha spoke into a walkie-talkie, "All fighter units, Bluebird is evacuating Bunker 29. I repeat, Bluebird is evacuating Bunker 29!"

"Copy that," said a young, male voice through the walkie-talkie. "MEKA pilot DVa, escort Bluebird to the perimeter of the mountain range."

"Roger!" DVa's voice responded through the talkie. "Game face: on!"

Brigitte held onto an inside handle bar as the ship accelerated, DVa's mech taking the lead. The carrier and DVa's mech flew out of the hanger and into the open range where the light shined brighter. Omnics still rained from the sky as if coming from space. Dozens of omnics already on the ground were in turret form, shooting at jets, bombers, and MEKAs as they retaliated with explosions and peppering the earth with bigger bullets. The mountain turrets were firing at the ground and at the sky, destroying a few bastion units before they could even reach the ground. The sky in the east was crowded with other fleeing carrier ships with smaller escort ships flying around them.

"Elevating," proclaimed the pilot. "Preparing engine thrusters for maximum capacity."

While the ship rose higher into the sky, the base of it shook as the floorboards vibrated from what felt like bullets but stopped as they heard DVa shout, "Defense matrix, activated!" Through the static of the walkie-talkie, the bastion unit beeped in peril before it went dead.

Omnics continued to rain as the number of friendly ships continued to drop. After a smaller carrier flew out of a hanger farther away, the male voice talked through the static, "Alright, she's the last of them. Commence evacuation protoc— _heads up_!"

The skylight faded into a pale blue as humongous rockets the size of bombers themselves plummeted down towards Bluebird with a high-pitch screech coming from them.

"Floor it!" Sancha cried.

"Negative!" responded the pilot. "We won't make it in time!"

Brigitte thought she was going to die. As she starred like a deer in the middle of a street with a speeding car zooming towards it with its headlights on, she pictured Reinhardt and their adventures together, her father Torbjörn teaching her how to build robots from scrap, her mom, her cats, her siblings. She wanted to jump through the windshield and prop up her shield, but she knew even Reinhardt's shield could only take one of those. There were six.

Brigitte held the handle bar even tighter, but just before the rockets made contact, a digital matrix opened up in front of them and the first missile completely disappeared. So did almost the rest of the other ones as DVa's mech angled itself to catch them all head on. Everyone gave a small sigh of relief, including Brigitte. She began to resent herself for thinking bad of DVa before. She saved her multiple times already.

But just before the last missile touched the defense matrix, it turned off. The front of DVa's mech exploded on contact, igniting in blue flames.

"I'm hit!" DVa shouted as the MEKA spiraled towards Bluebird, out of control. The pilot jerked the handles to the left, quickly rotating the ship so her MEKA skidded of its plating instead of direct impact. DVa screamed in panicked through the walkie-talkie as an older male voice yelled out, "DVa! We need DVa!"

"We can't" the younger male exclaimed as Bluebird began to rattle lightly beneath them. "The fire is too heavy! It'll be suicide! Continue evac!"

Without thinking, Brigitte spotted the nearest parachute lying next to a seated soldier and the emergency rear opening. She punched the glass covering the handle and yanked it down. The ship's alarm went off as the drawbridge lowered. Sancha turned towards the back while Brigitte threw the parachute onto her back with the soldiers gripping onto the seat handles and starring at her. Roaring wind began to suck towards the opening gap as Brigitte eyed Sancha's walkie-talkie. "Wait!" Sancha cried, "what are you—!"

As soon as Brigitte quickly glanced out the ship and spotted DVa's MEKA falling down towards Bunker 29, she stepped towards Sancha, snatching the walkie-talkie. "Close the drawbridge behind me!"

"Brigitte, _no_!"

But it was no use. With a running start and an epic leap, Brigitte flew down from the sky, praying the omnics wouldn't hit her as DVa continued to scream.


	4. Chapter 4

Brigitte could've thought this out better. She could've taken one of the soldier's assault rifles as well. Maybe hastily search through she ship's glove department and perhaps find a repair tool kit. Or just think of something to stop the oncoming fire at her.

The mass amount of air rushing against her dried out her lips and impaired her hearing. Falling in the air was the same as hurricane winds pushing against you: if you let it, it could fling you wherever, however. But thanks to the weight of her heavy armor, she was able to maintain control. She curved her body and ducked her head just as bullets whizzed by. Just as she got struck by a few, the nearest turret on the mountain fired at it, blowing it up into shrapnel. The turret kept firing at any bastion that tried to shoot at her while she starred at the white, rocky earth, rapidly growing bigger below.

DVa's mech crashed through the ceiling, leaving behind a hole in the ceiling much bigger than the omnics had created. Just as Brigitte couldn't see it anymore, she heard DVa yell, "Ejecting!" before the sound of crashing metal and tumbling pipes.

"DVa!" yelled the young male voice. "DVa, come in! DVa, do you copy?"

No, she didn't. DVa never responded as Brigitte tugged at her parachute. The back flap opened up and the orange parachute expanded into the air. On its full open, Brigitte barely slowed due to her armor's weight. She couldn't tell whether she was traveling at terminal velocity, but she sure felt like it. Her heart pounded as the rocks piled ontop of each other on the bunker's ceiling began to blur. She closed her eyes and waited. On contact with the ground, Brigitte could feel her armor soaking up most of the force, but her knee joints still hurt. She stumbled and rolled, covering her head with her hands and hearing rocks knock into each other. As she almost came to a stop, she felt weightless. Brigitte dared to open her eyes and found herself falling from an omnic hole into Bunker 29.

She screamed and wailed in the air as she fell closer to a cluster of scrap, laid down like spikes. Before she hit it, her parachute pack tugged her upward. She glanced up to see her parachute had gotten tangled with the broken pipes at the ceiling, tearing as it stressed to hold Brigitte. As Brigitte fully stopped, the parachute strings withered and snapped, dropping her. She landed on her feet, 20 feet down, just missing the scrap. Her impact echoed through the vacant hanger, with sirens dead silent and the scent of gas mixed in with fresh air. She vigorously turned her head, scanning the ruins. DVa's mech had crashed into the corner with monitors and tables 100 meters from her, all of them now shattered into pieces. Dark skid marks scratched the floor and the blast door had been resealed. All the heavy lightbulbs were off, so the only light came from the rays of sun from the ceiling holes, flickering by the rising smoke. The walls were now bare, the floor was littered with bullets, scrap junk, and vehicle wreckages, but she couldn't see DVa anywhere.

"DVa!" Brigitte called out. Her echo lasted for seconds, but nothing responded. "DVa! DVa!"

Brigitte jogged around wreckages towards the crashed MEKA. As she did, the walkie-talkie she strapped to her waist emitted static. "Dr. Sancha, what is the status of Bluebird?" asked the young, male voice.

Brigitte unstrapped the walkie-talkie and held it to her mouth, holding the relay button. "This is Brigitte Lindholm, daughter of Torbjörn Lindholm of Overwatch." From her past experiences, nobody knew what to do with the name Brigitte, but once she added Torbjörn and Overwatch, they somehow "knew" her. She tried to avoid introducing herself that way, but she thought this was the exception.

The walkie-talkie made small static sounds before responding, "Brigitte, this is Jeong Sung-Ho, Commander of the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army. Are you on Bluebird? Is Dr. Sancha with you?"

"No," Brigitte responded. She stopped jogging to steady her breath, walking quickly. Her muscles were starting to ache and her throat beginning to dry. She began to walk around the black space shuttle with its front in a scrap heap. "I'm inside Bunker 29."

Jeong paused before responding, "What is your status?"

"Uh, status?"

"Are you injured?"

"No."

"Are you safe?"

"I'm…" Brigitte glanced around. The only exit out of here she knew was through the doorway into the bunker halls that Reinhardt and she came through a few days ago, but ruins of vehicles blocked her vision towards it.

She stopped in her tracks. Reinhardt. He was supposed to arrive today to pick her up from the bunker. Was he ok? Did he get caught up in the fight? Did he somehow evacuate?

"Brigitte?" Jeong asked.

She shook those thoughts out and keep on walking. "Sorry. I-I think I'm safe." A sharp screech sounded from the other end of the bunker, startling Brigitte and making her jump around. Her vision was blocked from where the sound came from. The echo receded. "For now."

Jeong sighed. "Ok, listen closely. Find somewhere safe and stay put. We're setting up plans to—"

" _DVa_!" As Brigitte turned the corner of the shuttle, she spotted DVa, lying limply facing up. Her hair was spread out and the palms of her hands were open. Her eyes closed and head turned from Brigitte, it looked like a cute baby was napping. Brigitte rushed forward, sliding onto her knees in front of her. She examined her body and nothing seemed to be broken. But outside of that, Brigitte didn't know what else to do. If she was a machine—an omnic, even—she would have spotted the problem by now and began figuring out ways to fix her. But DVa looked completely fine. Brigitte knew she wasn't.

Much more static filled the walkie-talkie, but Brigitte could still make out Jeong's voice as he spoke, "Brigitte, did something happen?"

"I found DVa, but…" Brigitte removed her gloves and felt her chest. The suit's fabric was cold and silky, tightly fitting around her and revealing her curves. Her heart pulsed regularly and her breathing was smooth. She felt her warm forehead and hovered her hand to feel steady air from her mouth with a rhythm. "I…I don't know what's wrong with her."

"Is she unconscious?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, Brigitte, calm down for me," Jeong ordered. "I'm going to instruct you on analyzing her. Do everything I tell you." He ordered her to do various tasks, such as putting her ear against her chest, checking her eyes, and feeling her pulse. Whenever Brigitte got close, she picked up DVa's scent, a sweet perfume of vanilla with a fragrance of doritos. Brigitte wished she could smell that nice instead of sweat and metal all the time.

When she was done, Jeong sighed in relief. "Good, she's alright. She's in a coma, hopefully one that won't last long. Still, be as careful as you can if you try to move her. There can be several reasons as to why that is."

Brigitte sighed with relief. She slid her gloves back on. The static grew louder, so Jeong had to yell, "Listen! We'll be back! Just find a safe place and stay put! Under the hanger, there should be— _find cover_!"

Brigitte jumped as there were several deep _BOOMs_ and the hanger shook as hard as a 7.0 earthquake. She fell over DVa as she heard the ceiling crack. She only had enough time to trigger her shield and lift it up as debris fell all over the hanger. Several rocks and a broken pipe smashed against the barrier, but although Brigitte was at her limit, she stood strong like a statue. Her entire body vibrated as dust and dirt clouded around her like the clanking and screeching noises.

Slowly, the shaking receded to a stop. Brigitte coughed, waving the settling dust away from her. She checked DVa, who thankfully looked untouched. Brigitte took up the walkie-talkie, but nothing but static came through. She tried calling Jeong several times, but nothing. She turned it off instead and sighed with exhaustion. Her libs had no energy; they felt like noodles. Brigitte considered taking off her armor for the moment and coming back for it later, but she wasn't sure of her surroundings. If a platoon of bastions showed up, they would have been in trouble.

And speaking of the devil, loud beeps and metallic marching began echoing around from the other side of the hanger.


	5. Chapter 5

Brigitte's options were limited.

Running was definitely out. Even with DVa, she could have only gone 100 meters more at best. Time was also of the essence. Calculating the cresendoing beeps and clanking, she had less than a minute, depending on which direction she went. She had to make everything worth it.

The only places to hide were around DVa's crashed mech, inside the second half of the shuttle, or maybe trying to find a door out of the hanger. DVa's mech was squeezed dead into the corner, creating a small wedge just big enough for the both of them, but her back would be completely exposed. She wasn't too sure if there also _was_ another door nearby out of the hanger. She reasoned there was—it'd be a foolish design for a huge hanger to have only one way in and out—but she didn't know if that was within 50 meters or 100 meters or if there were even omnics in the halls. She was as much as a sitting duck as DVa if they found her. So that left the shuttle.

Brigitte slid her arms slowly under DVa and heaved her up, carrying her princess-style. DVa's head fell back, her hair and arms dangling down. She was incredibly light, but it didn't feel that way with her sore limbs. She penguin-wobbled to the blown-up side of the aircraft. It looked as if a dinosaur bit into a hot dog, with the metal outer parts pointed out like unfinished spikes, frayed ends of the carpet for the aisle, and massive fluffs of cotton falling out from the seats. Brigitte went on her tippy toes to check for glass or anything dangerous before swinging her arms. "Forgive me, DVa," she said out loud before she heaved her like a ragdoll into the shuttle. She tumbled and stopped with a light THUMP, but Brigitte didn't have time to worry. The bastions sounded like they were right behind a pair of destroyed bombers on the other side of her. With all her might, she used parts of the metal sticking out as footholds to climb her way up, crawling inside once she was fully in. The shuttle had that new-vehicle smell and dozens of papers on the floor, some crumbled. Without thinking in her final movement, she grabbed DVa by her ribs and threw herself onto the seats behind the destroyed ones.

DVa's body laid on top of Brigitte as she curled up her own knees, trying to make them as out-of-sight as possible. Brigitte was nowhere near comfortable, with her back curled up and her motions limited in her armor. Her scent of grease and sweat gave her hope that if they had any smell detector sensors that they'd pick up her instead of DVa. It was like a dream where she couldn't move as quickly or freely as she wanted to, on top of her neck straining. DVa was also in an awkward position, with her face right in front of Brigitte's, her arms crossed on top of Brigitte's chest, and her legs piled on hers. She felt her breathing on her cheek and could almost hear her voice every time she exhaled. This wouldn't have been Brigitte's first choice, but there weren't any other options to choose from. Her heart pounded. The omnics became louder and louder. Brigitte's breaths started to race. All she could do was focus on DVa's face, particularly her whiskers. The ears on her headset distracted her, too. Cats. Cats. Cats.

The marching became clear are crystal in Brigitte's right ear and she held hear breath. They stopped marching and began beeping to each other in conversation. Time felt slowed. Seconds turned to hours as her breath ran thin. Her lungs felt like paper bags, crushing under her own weight.

Finally, the beeping stopped and the marching continued. The direct sound turned back into echoes. As slowly as she could, she breathed out a steady stream of air. She risked sliding her body up against the wall so her neck didn't cramp. The marching went to DVa's mech and stopped, the omnics beeping again. She risked moving to the side of the seats so that her mace wasn't shoving into her hip.

The omnics chatted (she assume they were communicating) for a while next to DVa's mech for a few minutes. Brigitte wondered what was taking them so long, but it didn't matter. Brigitte couldn't move anymore and she was comfortable now. Her body submitted to finally being able to stop and rest. She wasn't sleepy, but her eyes began to feel heavy. The omnics were still talking, but the moment they left, she decided to tap out.

A few minutes later, they began to march away. They went down the shuttle, going around the back. Once they sounded to be out of sound distance, Brigitte moaned. She must have been running on adrenaline because now, her body ached from her fingers to her knees and definitely her feet. She glanced down at DVa, who's face was in her stomach now. She saw the ears on her headphone and, without thinking, patted her head. A flood of thoughts came to mind: how long could DVa be out for? Where was a safe place to be in here? Was help coming? No, help _must've_ been coming. Knowing Reinhardt, he was somehow still alive and was raging to come and get her, probably being held back by soldiers for his own good. If her father heard the news, he was probably already building a weapon to destroy all the omnics around them. The question couldn't have been _if,_ but _when_. Finally, what was the condition of the mountain range? After that massive explosion from earlier, something critical to the base must've been gone. She wasn't paying attention until now, but the turrets outside had stopped. Were they still there? And whatever happened to the electromagnetic dome barrier? If it was active, the skyway would have been protected from the rockets from before.

Brigitte sighed. She took after Reinhardt. He told her his story of recklessly charging ahead in battle in Eichenwalde. Out of all the heroic knight stories in shining armor and the hero saving the land and helping town citizens, that story struck her the most. It was his least talked-about one, which was understandable since his friend died with honor. She's met only a few people like that, willing to sacrifice themselves for something greater. Maybe that was why she jumped out to save DVa, especially after she saved her several times today. Brigitte wanted to be a hero like that.

She checked the sounds of the hanger to make sure no omnics were around before dropping her hand to the walkie-talkie. Only loud static came out like last time. She turned it off.

She glanced down at DVa, still peacefully laying on her unconsciously. "Come on, DVa," she whispered. "Wake up."

Brigitte didn't remember falling asleep. But the next thing she knew, she was opening her eyes. The small amount of light from the hanger was gone now. Everything was pitch dark. She could still feel DVa on top of her, but only on her thigh now. She felt around in the dark and ended up placing her hand on top of her head, which was relaxed on her thigh with her arms crossed. When she patted her head unconsciously, DVa raised her head and faced toward Brigitte. "Hey!" she exclaimed.


	6. Chapter 6

Brigitte was half-glad she could just barely see DVa's face.

"What was that?" DVa asked demandingly.

"Ah, sorry about that!" Brigitte said quickly. "I have cats I love to play with at home, and your ears on your headphones, and your face-paint whiskers, ah…"

Brigitte stuttered as DVa pouted. "Don't do it again."

"Ok."

DVa's pout turned into a confused frown. "So what's the situation?"

"Situation?"

"Like, are there other soldiers here? Are we alone? Is it safe outside?" DVa poked her head down the aisle, looking out of the plane. "And where's my mech?"

"Wait," Brigitte shouted in a whisper, " _is_ it safe?"

"Hmm?" was all DVa could say before Brigitte rolled of the seat quickly and placed her hands on DVa's shoulders, forcing her back behind the seat with her. "Hey!" she exclaimed. "What are you—Mmph!"

Brigitte covered DVa's mouth with her hand and put a finger over her lips, making a silent _shh._ She was glad her strength returned after her rest, but the last thing she wanted was to already be on the run. DVa died down until nothing could be heard. Brigitte slowly removed her hand, locking eyes with DVa. "There were bastion units outside of here," she whispered. "I don't know if they're outside still or not."

DVa nodded. "What's happened?"

Brigitte explained the situation: it was most likely just her and DVa within the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range while omnics roamed around. Jeong asked them to find a safe place and to stay put, but she wasn't sure when help was coming. Realistically, she wasn't certain about _if_ either, but she was pretty sure. They were hiding from omnics that were previously outside, but she took a rest.

DVa nodded in the end, narrowing her eyes in determination. "So the game plan now is to find a safe place."

"Safer than here, yeah," Brigitte agreed. "The best place I can think of that's the closest is the living quarters downstairs." Brigitte paused with a confused face, examining DVa. "And are you ok? Are you in pain anywhere?"

DVa hesitated. "I'm…well…my back, it's…" she turned around, pulling her hair so her back and the nape of her neck was exposed. "Pull down the zipper and look at my back. It's at the top, with the collar. Tell me how bad it is."

Brigitte had to remove her gloves and feel around since the lighting was so bad. She could still see the blue, black, and white suit with pink lining if she put her face close enough to smell her scent, but it wouldn't have been enough. She could hear her fingers slide across the cold and silky fabric and the metal zipper when she found it. Brigitte zipped it down, watching the two-halves of the suit fall away from each other before seeing the mass bruise. It was if someone spilt a bucket of purple paint on her clean back from her shoulder blade to her hip. Brigitte carefully touched the center, warm and squishy, but disproportional like globs. On her lightest poke, DVa winced, sharply breathing in.

"Sorry!" Brigitte whispered. "But it is bad."

Brigitte did find DVa faced up. Her only solution was she landed flat on her back when ejecting from the mech. Brigitte frowned, zipping the suit back up and being careful not to touch it. "Does it hurt?"

"Only when there's pressure on it," DVa admitted. "But I'm fine. I can stand on my own. Now let's get moving." She turned and looked down the aisle.

"Hold on, we should wait until day time," Brigitte suggested. "If the omnics have night vision optics, they'd—"

A low murmur from DVa cut Brigitte off. DVa didn't say anything, but that was a distinct sound. "Are you hungry?" Brigitte asked.

"I only had a family bag of Doritos before the battle!" she whispered quickly. "I need more gamer fuel if I'm going to be of help!"

Now that Brigitte thought about it, she felt hungry, too. She'd eaten well that morning, but she had pushed her body harder than one of her power workouts. "Ok, then we head out now," Brigitte agreed.

"Alright!" DVa said. "Game face: on!"

 **Flappy741: Sorry for the short chapter. College finals and studying for exams. School stuff. I'm sure everyone can relate.**


	7. Chapter 7

They both climbed out of the shuttle silently, trying to look as hard as they can in every direction. "Hey!" DVa shouted in a whisper, "my mech!"

Brigitte was so confused. Before she fell into the hanger, the front of her mech was smashed like an egg shell, its armor plating in the tiniest of pieces along with green glass on the floor. Now it looked like it was in perfect condition, standing on its legs, and ready for operation. Additionally, the control panel was fixed, leaving one monitor working with a surrounding front, aerial view of Bunker 29's blaster door from the outside.

Brigitte just stood shocked as DVa snuck up to it, checking around the corner of the shuttle before she did. "Let's see here…maybe my pistol is inside."

"DVa, be careful!" Brigitte warned. "That was destroyed before!"

"Was it?" DVa rubbed her hands along the front. "It wasn't you who fixed it?"

She wanted to take credit for that, but she shook her head. DVa slid around to the back as Brigitte stepped up to the gigantic hunk of metal. "Then who?"

Great. Another question she didn't have the answer to.

Brigitte joined DVa as she flipped open a panel on the back, right next to the cockpit door. If DVa didn't notice anything wrong with her mech by now, it probably wasn't booby trapped as she was suspecting. She punched in numbers on a keypad and a red ERROR flashed. DVa frowned. "Wah?..." She repeated the numbers, and again, ERROR flashed.

"You sure you're putting in the right combination?" Brigitte asked.

DVa nodded. She tried for a third time. Failure.

"Let's come back to this," Brigitte suggested. "I don't think it'd be helpful to be using the mech now, anyways."

DVa stood stuck for a moment, staring at the control panel. Then she nodded and flipped it down. "I…" she scratched her head. "I…can't remember if I ejected with my pistol or not, come to think of it. Did you see my pistol when you found me?"

Brigitte shook her head. "What does it look like?"

"A small pink and black pistol with a keychain at the bottom of the handle with my bunny emblem on it. My name's written on the pistol, too."

"Well, I found you over there." Brigitte pointed to the spot on the ground which she found her. "Want to look around?"

An eerie, metallic screech echoed throughout the hanger, coming from the other side. Brigitte froze as she could see the white of DVa's eyes enlarge. She didn't know what that was, but she knew it wasn't a bastion unit.

Brigitte reached down for her mace. "Scratch that idea. Do you know the nearest exit from the hanger?"

DVa pointed at the end of the shuttle, but she knew she meant past that. "There should be door leading into the bunker corridors in that area. I don't know if it's locked or not."

"It's our best bet." Brigitte fast-walked in the general direction with DVa close behind. Her armor quietly clanked with every step as DVa move soundlessly. The eerie sound went off again and again, at six-second intervals. Whatever it was, it was moving fast. By the time Brigitte and DVa reached the wall, which they could see several racks all the way down the hanger from the soft moonlight flooding in the ceiling, it sounded twice as close. From Brigitte's memory of the hanger, it seemed to be scanning the perimeter.

Brigitte picked up the pace as she saw a handle sticking out within the wall. She pulled on it as they reached it, but it was jammed. "Damn it!" DVa whispered. "The next door is over there!"

As she pointed to the middle section of the wall, Brigitte noticed moonlight reflections at the end of the hanger. She squinted to make out…what _was_ that thing? A dog? A cat? A…it was a wolf. A metallic wolf.

Brigitte snatched DVa's hand and jumped from the wall as a powerful duel-set of beam lights shone down the pathway. They covered behind a scrap pile of metal as the light turned towards their direction, embracing DVa as she laid on top of her. The floor could've been sharp for all she knew and DVa could _not_ lay on her back or even risk it, so this was the best choice. Figuratively speaking, the light trapped them since it expanded to cover both ends of the scrap heap and the shuttle that laid behind them projected the entire shadow of the scrap. The eerie sound had finished going down the long wall and had turned the corner at where DVa's mech was, now going down the blaster door.

Hiding was about to no longer be an option until DVa felt around the ground with her free hand. She picked up a flat piece of black metal the size of a checker board and practiced flicking her wrist. Before the eerie sound passed the shuttle, DVa flung the chunk so that it blended in with the shuttle as it emerged in the light. It flopped far into the distance with a rattling _CLAMP._ Immediately, the lights turned off and the eerie sound turned, going along the other side of the shuttle.

DVa pushed off of Brigitte onto her feet and quickly pulled her up with both hands before they both sprinted towards the second door. The wolf at the end of the bunker was no longer there, but Brigitte kept glancing around as DVa took the lead. The eerie sound turned into a howl as they reached the second door. DVa pulled on it, but it didn't budge.

"You've got to be kidding!" Brigitte whispered. They were both breathing heavily. The shuttle behind them began to rock as a cacophony of howling, shotgun blasts, and rapid-firing erupted. Brigitte wasn't fatigued, but if this continued much longer, that was going to be a different story.

"Third time's the charm!" DVa began running to the third door, all the way at the end. "We need to dive it!"

Brigitte tailed behind. Before they were even a quarter close, the distinct sound of metal popping out and banging against the wall echoed behind them. Before they knew it, they were in bright white headlights from behind.

"I'll be your shield!" Brigitte yelled as she began to slow down. "Get through the door!"

"No!" DVa shouted. "We stick together!"

"ARooo!" Brigitte turned to see a metallic fox armed with long barrels to its side speeding towards them. Brigitte bent down, activating her shield. The blue barrier filtered the white light, making it easier to see the fox jump. Its shotguns fired, hitting the shield and slightly pushing Brigitte back. Before the fox could pounce her, Brigitte bashed its head. It dropped to the floor dazed as Brigitte lowered her shield and swung her mace. The wolf fired as Brigitte slammed the right side of the fox's head, the bullets peppering her armor with blunt damage. Electric sparks ran around the fox's neck before Brigitte gave it a good soccer kick. It flew, skidded, and slid on the ground to a stop. Brigitte turned her attention back to the wolf. Through the blinding headlights in her eyes, she could barely make out a long barrel and a scope rising from its back.

 _A sniper rifle?_ Was all Brigitte could thing before a loud _BANG_ and a massive push against her chest lobbed her back. Brigitte propped up her shield, ignoring the pain of what felt like being punched in the right breast as DVa from behind her yelled, " _Duck!"_

Brigitte dropped to a knee and turned to see DVa with a single-shot rocket launcher propelled on her shoulder. DVa fired, launching a rocket at the wolf. The omnic didn't even try to dodge it. Instead, it froze like a deer and headlights. On impact, a massive _KA-BOOM!_ shook the hanger as it temporarily light up in orange and red light. Rubble erupted like a water fountain, raining down with tiny klinks, some deflecting of Brigitte's shield. Her jaw dropped as DVa let go of the launcher, clanking on the ground and slightly rolling back and forth. "Wh-where…wha—"

More howls sounded from above the holes in the ceiling. The pipes above began to crack. "Don't ask, I'll tell you later!" DVa yelled. "C'mon, the door's open!"

Brigitte stood up and ran along the rack-filled wall as the moonlight from the holes shimmered as massive amounts of metal hit the ground. The girls slowed as they approached the swung-out door. Without thinking, DVa charged in and Brigitte grabbed the handle, slamming it shut behind them with a twirl.


	8. Chapter 8

To say the hallway was dark would be an understatement. It was pitch black. To Brigitte, having her eyes open or closed wouldn't have made a difference. They both panted, catching their breaths. Brigitte could feel the heat rising from within her armor and sweat beginning to form. Her throat felt slightly sore with every swallow of saliva going down.

Brigitte let go of the door handle and stood straight up. As her breathing settled, she reached her hand around. "DVa?"

"Brigitte." She felt DVa's hand touch her chest plate as she grabbed what must've been her shoulder. DVa traced her hand along Brigitte's arm until she found her hand, clenching it tight. Dva's hand seemed very small inside her own, but it felt wonderful to know where she was. "We. Stick. Together."

Her voice sounded either stern or shaken, but she couldn't tell without seeing her face. Brigitte hoped it was the shaken, not that she hoped DVa was frightened. Brigitte nodded, forgetting DVa wouldn't be able to see it. "Ok."

"Promise?" she asked.

She hesitated. From her adventures with Reinhardt, she knew there were times that splitting up was the better option. She didn't understand why this agreement was being written in stone, but Brigitte shook DVa's hand. "Promise."

DVa let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

Brigitte looked around, then immediately felt dumb. "Um, do you know the way through these halls?"

"A little bit. Don't you as well?"

"Probably not. After visiting all the other bunkers, I gave up trying to remember them. Since each mountain is more or less different, they're not the same."

"Then I'll lead the way." She fell silent for a moment. "Here, I think it's this way."

DVa tugged on Brigitte's arm as they began to walk. The halls felt to be the size of two people in width and echoed everything. They still moved as silently as they could with their footsteps, but they sounded louder since sight wasn't a sense she needed to focus on. Her free hand would stray and sometimes touch the walls and random things on them, mostly pipes. They made lefts and rights, went downstairs and upstairs. Whenever they stopped, she heard DVa flick switches or shake doors handles, but they never went out of the hallway. She felt nervous; the more they wandered, the more likely they could encounter another omnic. Or five more, for all her luck was worth.

"Um, just for the sake of asking, where are we going?" Brigitte asked worriedly.

"The cafeteria," DVa responded. She sounded fearless. "That's the current objective we're trying to capture, right?"

How that came out rubbed Brigitte the wrong way. Sure, she's been in a few other perilous situations before thanks to Reinhardt's overenthusiasm, but that …it felt wrong. "And are you sure where heading in the right general location?"

"Not entirely. I think the winning condition is to find the light switch and—"

"Winning condition? Is this a _game_ to you?"

That came out much worse than Brigitte wanted it to. DVa squeezed her hand as if her whole body jumped. They walked in silence as Brigitte scrambled for words to say. Instead, all she kept thinking of were tools. That made her feel worse.

DVa pulled her right around a corner, checking a locked door. "Growing up, all I've really done was play videogames. Even after school, I would go straight home to play. Without realizing it, I began to use gaming terminology outside of games. Since my fans loved it when I streamed, I never saw it as a bad thing and stuck to it."

Brigitte stuttered as she tried to get the image of a hammer bonking her head out. "No, what I said…I didn't…that didn't come out as…" she breathed in. "It sounded like you weren't taking this seriously and I…I guess I got paranoid."

DVa didn't respond. Instead, she sniffled. "We're close."

The smell in the hall turned to something burnt. DVa walked faster as the air started to heat up. A few more steps later, DVa stopped as Brigitte heard a thump at a door. "This door leads to the cafeteria. I'm sure of it."

"DVa—"

"Think you can bust it down? I don't know how sturdy it is."

Brigitte wanted to continue that conversation, but she sighed. "Ok. Let me see."

 **Flappy741: Finals actually got me wondering what I want written on my tombstone.** **(╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻) Again, sorry for short chapter. Better now than later if it's gonna be in the story, anyways. Hope you're all enjoying this.  
**


	9. Chapter 9

DVa stood to the side as Brigitte felt the door. It was solid, cold steel with hinges on the other side. The door handle didn't budge, but as Brigitte felt around, she could tell the lock was made up of multiple small components. Something that could easily be broken with the right amount of force.

"I'm going to try and bash the door down," Brigitte decided. "Stand back."

"Bash it _down?_ " DVa asked with disbelief. "Are…are you _that_ strong?"

"We're going to find out." Brigitte drew her mace. "If I can break the handle, the door itself should be easier. Hard work, but I think I can do it."

DVa was silent before responding, "Ok. I'm to the side, then." Brigitte felt DVa let go of her. The feeling scared her, but this had to be done. She decided to make it quick.

Brigitte locked her mace and stretched her arm before mentally preparing herself. She kept one hand on the handle to know where she was striking, then with a wide swing, she banged it. DVa screamed as a deafening bell-like ring echoed along with something snapping.

"Hey! Warn me next time!" DVa exclaimed.

"Sorry! I didn't think it would be that loud!" That scared Brigitte enough for her heart to pound, too. She shook the handle, which now mad a small squeaky sound. "I'm going to try again. Ready?"

"Ready." She said. "Tap me when your done. I'm holding my ears."

Brigitte wish she could do that too.

She repeated the process: feel where the door handle was, arch arm, swing. She felt herself going faster with each swing. If the omnics had some sort of sound detection and didn't know where the girls were (if they knew they were in the bunker), they must've known by now something was where they were if they could hear them. After each ring, the handle became looser. After the eight swing, the handle broke entirely, falling to the floor with a rattle. Brigitte felt her index finger inside the hole she made, feeling small bumps that were the screws. Unfortunately, the bunker was state-of-the-art and the lock was built with fine craftsmanship. She wasn't sure now if she could bash it down, but she had to try. Her stomach was growling at her.

Brigitte felt where DVa was and patted what she thought was her shoulder until she felt the metal of her headphones on her ears. "Hey!"

"It was dark!" Brigitte cried. "I didn't remember you were shorter than me and I guesstimated where you were and—"

"Ok, ok, ok," DVa repeated. "What now?"

"I'm going to shoulder-bash the door now."

"Good…good luck." DVa sounded weak, but maybe that was Brigitte's imagination. Brigitte stepped back a few steps after feeling the door and charged at the side where the handle was, activating the thrusters in her suit. The entire door violently shook and rattled. It was sturdy, but so was she.

Again and again, she charged. The door rattled, and each time, there was a different sound. When she charged for the sixth time, the door busted open. Brigitte felt the wall next to the door and found a switch, flicking it on.

Rows of white ceiling lights powered on, illuminating a baseball-field-size sit down area with rows of tables and benches creating a single aisleway down the middle of the room. Brigitte felt like a flashbang just went off in her eyes as everything blurred. When her vision was clearer, the first thing she noticed was the last thing she wanted to see in her life. She heard Reinhardt's voice in his head as he described the omnic that scarred his eye: "It was like a centaur, straight out of fantasy! It's "bow" was a turret for an arm and it had four eyes, almost like a spider! I, uh, may have gotten, um, a bit too excited when I charged it. The beast grabbed me be the shoulders, then drew a blade attached to his other arm and swiped! Almost took my head! But a good hammer to the face destroyed it!"

In the center of the room, in the middle of the aisle, was an OR14 Idina bot, with its turret locked on Brigitte (Orisa, Null Sector skin). It let off a massive hum, vibrating the sparkly marble ground. The burning sensation felt like a warm blast in her face.

Brigitte switched the lights back off, its four eyes glowing red in the dark. The last things she saw before slamming the door closed were green plasma bullets shooting out of its fusion driver. Brigitte held the door closed as she felt repeated thumps against the door. "DVa, we need to move!"

Silence.

"DVa? _DVa!"_ Brigitte felt where DVa used to be but felt nothing. Brigitte stood stunned as the world seemed to zone out. She was about to run, keeping her hand on the right wall until something grabbed her ankle. Brigitte squealed lightly before recognizing the feel of DVa's small hand.

"DVa!" Brigitte knelt down and felt around. She felt DVa's back, making DVa yelp weakly. "DVa, what's wrong? Speak to me!"

"I…" her voice was croaked, as if a frog had jumped in it. "I don't know. Dizzy…nauseous…body feels…heavy." She moaned sickly. "Did you find the food?"

The first answer to so many questions came to Brigitte: the elevation. The higher up you were, the faster you became dehydrated. Brigitte's body was durable and tolerant to a lot of things. DVa's probably wasn't.

Brigitte had to act now. They were in a narrow hallway and the only form of environmental defense was the door, which she just broke. Bullets still rang against the door and she couldn't tell if they were louder than before or not. If the omnic was coming to the door, even if it couldn't see in the dark (which Brigitte doubted), all it had to do was to fire at them. It seemed like DVa was in no shape to run and Brigitte's stamina was pretty low after bashing the door. Brigitte only had one option.

"DVa, I'll be back with some water, ok? I'll bring it to you."

DVa groggily murmured something, which Brigitte took as a sign of acknowledgement. Then Brigitte stood, flexing her back muscles in an odd way. A pole shot up from her back with a flag on its end, flapping from the speed. At the top of it was an orange core, lightly illuminating her surroundings. Her mace made a triggered response, it's top flaps opening up into almost a grappling hook. Brigitte's shield activated on command, the lion's eyes on the shield glowing lightly.

"I'll be back," Brigitte stated before she kicked the door open.


	10. Chapter 10

Bullets splashed against the wall above DVa as Brigitte ran beneath them, flicking the lights back on. Everything brightened with white as Brigitte slammed the door closed behind her before dashing to the first row of tables. The OR14 hadn't moved, for better or worse, and kept firing at Brigitte as she flipped the end table over, improvising a barricade. She scrambled for cover, breathing heavily once again. DVa was protected for now, which was a priority—or a "winning condition," as DVa might have called it—but that left with how to deal with the OR14. At the very end of the room was a kitchen with rectangle holes in the walls and a few doors that split it off from the seating area. She doubted there was any sort of weapon in there like a random rocket launcher hanging with the pots and pans, and if any of the food was in that area, she didn't want to risk it being caught up in the omnic's crossfire.

The table grew warmer and thinner against Brigitte's back as she mentally prepared herself. She believed a good defense was the best offense, but the only form of defense available was stalling for time, which wasn't an option. The mini molten cores in her suit and her weapon wouldn't stay active forever. Her armor grew heavier as it became more dense, but if it grew too heavy, she would be sluggish. The sniper bullet lodged into her breastplate had already disappeared and the hole was completely repaired. That was all she needed to know.

As the table behind her finally snapped into two, she leaped to the next table on her left and flipped that over. Instead of simply hiding behind it, though, she leaped and kicked down on the edge of the bench right next to it. The table blocked most of the bullets while the ten-foot bench rose until it stood on its end, being held with both hands by Brigitte. She ran forward, keeping the underside of the seat facing the cannon. The seat broke down much more quickly than the table, but she was almost within melee range.

The OR14 began to slowly back up as Brigitte held up her shield while moving forward. Her barrier began to weaken but before it broke, the cannon stopped firing.

 _Can't let it reload!_ Brigitte thought as she dropped her shield and flung her flail wildly. It raised its other hand to parry her swings as it backed up, lifting its cannon high from reach as the circular gold piece on it rotated. It lowered it down to fire, but either by dumb luck or unconscious skill, her mace reached out and banged the tip of the gun's chamber, denting it badly. The omnic analyzed it before letting out a rush of black smoke from it's back and glaring at Brigitte.

 _Well,_ she thought. _That worked out well._

The omnic let out more steam. It's free arm reconfigured, opening slots and moving small metal plates around, until a long red blade come out from a sheath above the arm. It glowed with heal, reaching four feet down to the ground and scarring the metal black. To top it off, the molten core wore off. The orange aura around her faded and the pole above her slid back down into her suit.

 _Scratch that thought._

She knew that thing could cut her mace like butter…or her. Her weapon had the longer reach, but she needed a new way to fight. Sadly, she was down a 7-foot, rocket-propelled hammer or anything sturdy enough to take a few hits. She needed burst damage.

"No beast is too big to challenge!" Reinhardt had once said in training. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"

She looked at its legs. Each one had two joints. The joint further back from Brigitte had nothing covering it; it was just raw metal.

Brigitte sneered at the omnic, quickly tossing her mace into her shield hand. She beckoned it forward, flipping her fingers. The omnic recognized the taunt and shuffled forward. Brigitte switched her mace back into her hand and banged her shield, keeping her eye on the blade. The OR14 swiped as Brigitte dove beneath it, grabbing ahold of the right front leg. The blade reeked of hot metal like a hot oven and felt as hot, too. The omnic tried to step back, but Brigitte held on and let it move her, keeping her from being squished. She was within range of the blade, but the omnic's leg was in the way and the OR14 probably knew it. It made false attempts to swing, making Brigitte flinch each time, but she didn't look away.

They could've been there all day, but the omnic got impatient. Finally, it reached out to cut Brigitte by cutting through its own leg. The blade cut into her right bicep and she yelled. The omnic, now with a severed leg with its foot firmly stuck to the ground, fell onto Brigitte, wobbling with the rest of its legs and flailing its sword in the air. Brigitte could only struggle to keep on her hands and knees in a dog position, carrying the 300 Ibs. of metal from crushing her. She cursed in Sweden between breaths. All she had to do was roll out from under it and finish the fight, but she didn't have enough energy to perform the movement. She was out of options.

"Brigitte!" DVa yelled weakly.

She didn't look up, but she could tell DVa was in the room near the foor. "DVa!" she yelled desperately. "Help!"

The OR14 whistled and blew more smoke. The air was beginning to blacken. Brigitte fought the urge to cough as her muscles strained, beginning to shake on their own. She heard DVa run slowly and jump on and off the tables and benches around her. She soon stood to her side, her feet next to Brigitte's hands. She heard her grunt and her feet scrape the floor as the weight on her back felt lighter. With a burst of energy, Brigitte rolled to the right and collapsed facing straight up. DVa fell back onto the floor, breathing heavily. Brigitte turned her head to see DVa in her colorful suit with the bunny logo on her chest. Her long hair wrinkled against the floor and she looked ready to vomit, her eyes completely dazed. But as DVa spotted Brigitte's mace next to her, she sluggishly stood up. She strode to it, bent down to pick it up, then strode to the omnic, still flailing around. Then like a hammer and nail, DVa began banging it against the back of its head.

It made wild sounds from its head, probably pleading for its life, but after each hit that rung within the cafeteria, the sound died out. Soon, the head was completely bashed in and the omnic laid motionless. DVa dropped the mace and leaned on one of the tables, holding her stomach. She coughed up a storm before standing straight up again. She eyed the kitchen and then eyed Brigitte. "Are…are you…are you…ok?"

Brigitte swallowed. "A gash on my arm, but I'll be alright."

DVa nodded. "Then _I_ will get the water and food. _You_ stay there."

Brigitte didn't argue. DVa turned her gaze down the aisle and walked like a zombie, her arms dangling and her balance shifting from side to side.


	11. Chapter 11

Brigitte watched as DVa came back hugging three large paper cups of water and a first-aid kit. The omnic's red blade had melted the floor around it, heating up white rocks beneath it and adding that smell to the smoke. Brigitte still laid faced up, starring at the ceiling. Her breathing had slowed, but her arm began to throb and feel warm.

DVa knelt down next to her, placing each object down one at a time. She seemed sober now, if that was the right word for "no longer appearing drunk." Then she quickly went to the door where they entered, closed it, then came back and sat down. "Do you want the water first or the wound bandaged?"

"The wound," Brigitte said with a ragged voice. She coughed. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yup. So don't worry about me." DVa leaned over Brigitte to look at the red coloring in the silver armor, her hair falling onto her chest plate. The both smelt of smoke, but Brigitte could almost imagine the doritos and vanilla fragrance. DVa frowned. "How do I take off your armor?"

"Everything is overlapped with straps. You have to start with the back." Brigitte tried to sit up, but she barely even moved. It was like trying to get up in the morning; beside the wound, it was more of a mental battle than anything. "I, uh…"

"I'll do it." DVa sat on her knees behind Brigitte. Brigitte could feel her hands struggle to lift her onto her knees so that they were some sort of pillow. Then with a grunt, DVa lifted her up once more so she sat straight up, her legs spread out. Brigitte arched over looking down at her knees, her locks and her ponytail dangling like fancy curtain cords. She thought of guiding DVa where to go, but she seemed to know where to go. Instead, she thought of other things. She seriously wanted to address that comment she made about her not taking this seriously, but DVa still seemed on guard about it. She didn't know for sure whether she was or not, but to her, she was sending off a don't-mention-it vibe (or maybe that was her imagination). But she didn't want to wait too long to talk about it either.

So Brigitte just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "So…that rocket launcher."

Brigitte couldn't see her face, but she felt and heard her make a quick chuckle. "It was in the corner of the hanger. I never fired one before, but I've seen footage of Fareeha use hers and I've been trained about the fundamentals of most weapons. So I thought 'now's a better time than never.' And it hit."

"Fareeha?" Brigitte asked.

"Ah. I know most of the Overwatch members by their actual names. Here nickname is 'Pharah.'" DVa had loosened all the straps, making Brigitte feel wobbly as the metal shifted. DVa grunted as she pulled up on the breastplate and plackart (stomach piece). Warm air rushed all over her I-LIKE-EXERCISE-CAUSE-I-LIKE-EATING black tank top and her toned muscles that were red from the constant blood pulsing through her. She thought she had fixed the right strap of her red overalls, but it laid towards the bottom, tucked into her leggings. At least her arm still had the tied bandages from a few days ago around her arm.

DVa set the armor beside her. As she reached for the medic kit, she asked, "What's the tattoo?"

Brigitte looked at her left shoulder with a tattoo of a black gear split up with a circle core and its three rugged outer parts. "It's the Ironclad Guild emblem, an organization of mechanics and engineers. We develop weapons and other machinery for different things. Papa persuaded me to join before I realized I wanted to be an adventurer with Reinhardt."

"That's cool!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Can you build videogame systems like VR headsets and gaming PCs? Maybe sixteen gigabyte graphics cards?"

"I… _what?_ " Brigitte turned her head to find herself right up in DVa's face. Their noses only inches apart, she almost lost herself in her pink whiskers that had began fading, her thin lips, and her small nose. And seriously, there was no cuts or scars or anything on her face. How? "VR?"

"Virtual reality!" She smiled brightly and time began to slow for some reason. She remembered DVa's smile when they first met, but this was something completely different. "Have you not tried on a VR headset before? It's _amazing_! Especially for FPSs and MMOs!"

Brigitte had no idea what those acronyms were. She frowned. "Does it involve nanoengineering or microengineering? I'm more of a mechanic than a technician, but if the computer systems are somewhat basic—"

"It's like a pair of glasses but you wear it sort of like a crown! The amount of frames you can see is…" Brigitte pretended to understand what she was saying as she rambled on about gaming systems and a few other games. She barely even noticed DVa taking off her gauntlet and bandaging her arm completely wrong. The blood began to color the bandage as it throbbed, but that was ok for the moment; she'd fix that later. Whatever kept DVa smiling as she was now was worth it. Even if Brigitte could hold the cups of water just fine, she kept her thoughts zipped as DVa put them to her lips. She wasn't used to chugging like Reinhardt was with his mugs, but as DVa poured a little fast each time, for what it was worth, she chugged.

Eventually, Brigitte found herself with all her armor off. It was only her arm that was wounded, but she assumed DVa went on autopilot or something. She had loosened all the straps and helped her take her boots and smaller pieces to the armor off. She worried in the back of her mind how'd she fight an omnic if one showed up and she no armor, but she decided to figure that out later.

As DVa sounded like she was going into detail about operating systems, a massive growl came from her stomach. She paused as her face began to turn pink. Brigitte hoped her face wasn't as red as it was beginning to feel. "Um, let's check the pantry for box meals," Brigitte suggested. "I think there's plenty, if nothing's happened to them."

DVa nodded. She patted down Brigitte's right arm before shifting her body so Brigitte's arm hung around her neck. Then using her arm as a benchpress bar, DVa rose, helping Brigitte onto her feet. Brigitte tried standing on her own, but she was more fatigued than she thought. She fell onto DVa, but even as her legs partially wobbled, she stayed standing. DVa's hair caressed her face, some of her strands tickling her nose and trying to get into her mouth. Brigitte couldn't help but notice her cheeks puffing out.

"You're struggling."

"I got this," DVa countered.

"I'm heavy, aren't I?"

"You're light!"

"I don't think you can do it."

"Challenge accepted!"

"The kitchen's meters away."

"I play to win!"

"We haven't even moved yet."

"Game on!"

And with an epic step of not even a foot wide, DVa began to carry Brigitte to the kitchen down the hall, with rows of sinks and vent in the ceiling where most of the smoke was clearing out. Brigitte covered her mouth to hold it in, but she couldn't help but laugh. She decided to bring up the talk another time. And get her armor later.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I hate being sick on one of the highest levels. :'(**

When Brigitte usually thought of "kitchen," she pictured stoves, knives, forks, plates, pans, ovens, and heat from what seemed like everywhere, from the stove to cooked food. But here, it was just cupboards beneath dual sinks and black microwaves. Each cupboard seemed to be stuffed with brown boxes marked with "MEAL, READY-TO-EAT" and "DO NOT ROUGH HANDLE WHEN FROZEN."

DVa had helped Brigitte to sit on one of the green countertops as she went from cupboard to cupboard, opening the doors and looking somewhat disappointed before moving on. The far ends of the rectangular kitchen had locked freezer doors and the only way out of the area was through the wide hole in the wall in the center of the kitchen. The walls were bare white and the floor had some debris on it like sediment from parts of the cracked roof above and a snapped pipe, but nothing that screamed _You're in danger! Run for your lives!_ Smoke still vented out from above, but it there was much less of it now.

Finally, DVa opened a cupboard next to Brigitte's legs dangling down and smiled sweetly. She slid out on of the boxes and checked its sides for writing. "Yes! French Toast! The best ones they have!"

DVa lunged the box onto the plain countertop beside Brigitte, closing the cupboard doors with her knees. Brigitte idly watched as DVa pulled apart the top of the box, ripping where it shouldn't have been ripped, and creating a hole revealing stacks of something the size of novels wrapped in silver plastic wrappers. DVa handed one to Brigitte, who took the ration that felt very light. "Is this just bread?" Brigitte asked.

"It's in the design of a pastry," DVa explained. "While watching TV here in the states, I saw a commercial about a Pop Tart. It's something like that." DVa pulled open the wrapper and pulled it off a toaster strudel the color of cornbread. She smiled with delight before quickly biting into it over and over like a bird pecking at fruit. Brigitte opened hers and the bland smell of cinnamon rose from it. The texture was rough and try like a pizza crust, but when Brigitte bit into it, she remembered how hungry she was after tasting the soft and gooey part. She enjoyed the light taste of the cinnamon, too, as she ripped large chunks of it off each time. It wasn't the best thing she ever had, but definitely not the worst. Soon, she finished hers before DVa. "There's more, right?"

"Melph ur fell (Help yourself)," DVa gestured towards the box.

For a while, the girls went through pastry after pastry. After about ten minutes, there were six wrappers on the counter and their eating rate had slowed down dramatically. Brigitte felt renewed, but still a tad sore, especially with her right arm after breaking the handle from earlier. They both chewed in silence during that time, but after DVa finished her third one, she sighed. "That hit the spot."

Brigitte nodded as she ripped open a fourth one. "This'll be the last one for me."

DVa nodded before removing the box off the cupboard and putting it down below again. She looked around in confusion before looking out towards the ruined omnic on the floor and Brigitte's armor. "Ah, brb."

DVa left for a moment and came back with the large paper cups in her hand. She filled two of them in the sink across from Brigitte then turned around and handed one to her. They both drowned the cups and sighed again. As Brigitte continued to finish her fourth French toast pastry, DVa put the cup to the side and leaped up onto the counter next to her, where she had placed the box. They both sat silently, Brigitte noticing DVa looking intently at her lap. As Brigitte finished her pastry, DVa finally asked, "So what now?"

Good question. Brigitte wasn't entirely sure if this place was "safe," considering the omnic was in the cafeteria and she had no idea how it could've gotten in (she doubt through the door since it was locked before them). If they were sleeping and another one of them found them, well, game over, as DVa might've worded it. She wished they could stay here until helped arrived, but they also had no way of knowing _when_ it would arrive (realistically, the word should've been _if,_ but she refused to think that way). They had no contact with anyone at the moment, which was the biggest problem. That needed to be fixed.

DVa interrupted her mid-thought: "How were you able to talk with Jeong Sung-Ho? He was the one who said to find the safe place right?"

Brigitte nodded. "Through a walkie-talkie I took from Sancha before I jumped out of the aircraft. I think I left it in the hanger, but I'm sure that exploded with—"

"Ah, wait a minute." Brigitte looked DVa in the face as she was on the verge of giggling. "You got a little bit of the…the pastry on your face."

Brigitte's face felt like it was burning as she brushed her hand over her cheeks and lips. "Did I get it?"

"No. Hold on." DVa removed her right glove, revealing her small, scarless hand (it wasn't fair. How does her glove _do_ that?) before reaching out and caressing the side of Brigitte's cheek with her thumb. Brigitte _knew_ her face was red as she watched DVa lick her thumb and put her glove back on. "Sorry, that was distracting. You were saying?"

Brigitte turned towards her own lap, with her hands resting on her thighs. "A-as I was saying, I was able to talk to Jeong through a walkie-talkie, but that's most likely gone now. And going back to the hanger now is probably a bad idea, even to search for it."

DVa nodded. "Then we need to find a way to contact them. We want to spend the least amount of time as possible to evacuate when they come, so we need to be ready and have a plan." DVa scratched her cheek, where one of her pink whiskers was starting to dry out. "My MEKA has dual-transmitter communication systems, but without the password in, the system won't go online. Plus, that's in the hanger."

"Bunker 1 is the base of operations, but that'd take at least a few days to reach by foot," Brigitte added. "That's even assuming the place isn't heavily guarded or we won't be spotted."

"Is that the nearest bunker with communication systems?"

"No. Bunker 13 is, but that's only from bunker to bunker. Bunker 1 is where data is sent and received in and out of the mountain range. Sancha told me that during the tour. Said for security reasons of hacking."

DVa frowned. "Sancha?"

"She was the head scientist of the facility here. She knows papa."

DVa slightly nodded. "Ok, so Bunker 1. But how would we even get access to it? I wouldn't have access to any of the systems here. My passcode only lets me on to data files and scheduled operations."

"I probably would." Brigitte gripped her tattoo, covering most of the ironclad emblem. "I know papa's passcode and he's affiliated with Overwatch. I can't imagine why it wouldn't work."

DVa was silent for a moment. "Ok, that might work. So our objective is to first get to Bunker 1, then find the main computer system, then contact… _somebody_ on the outside. Nobody should be afk on any other end since it is the military."

"Afk?" Brigitte asked.

"Away from keyboard." DVa looked around at the cupboards. "You said each bunker is designed differently?"

"Yeah, for the most part. But each has a hanger, a cafeteria, and a sleeping area."

"Ok. Then when we leave, I'll find some way to carry some rations for us." She sighed. "God, this would be so much easier with the MEKA."

Brigitte chuckled. "There'd be a giant, pink machine flying through the sky. Might as well paint it red and put 'we're a target! Shoot us!' on top."

DVa laughed. "We'd be out of mountain range within minutes and in Arizona within an hour. It's a lot faster than you think." She looked around, eyeing the doors to the side and the cracked ceiling up top. "Seems like a safe place to rest for a bit. You want to take first watch or me?"

Brigitte shrugged. "I'm just fatigued, not tired. If you're still tired, you can rest first."

"Alright." With that DVa stretched to lay on her side, removed her headphones off her small ears, placing them way down the counter from her, then curled her knees to her chest. She tried using her arm as a pillow before looking dissatisfied and trying the other arm. Brigitte simply watched as she tried using her hand, tossing and turning on the counter, and even bundling up her hair to make a pillow. After all that, she still seemed unsatisfied.

Brigitte sighed, having a calm and relaxed smile. "You're reminding me of Reinhardt right now. He can never sleep without a pillow."

DVa grumbled. "Jeong encouraged me to take a training course to sleep anywhere, but the tournament for 'Angels and Gods II' was coming up. It's one of the few times I've regretted playing video games."

"Well, you can use my leg as a pillow if you want," Brigitte offered. She smoothed out her red overalls where her thigh was. "Rein often asks to do it and it doesn't bother me. You're more than welcome to."

DVa laid still for a moment before turning her head towards her leg. "You're _sure._ "

"Definitelty."

After a moment of thought, DVa quickly crawled to Brigitte before laying back down again, her head pressing down on Brigitte's leg. Her hair spread out, covering most of her leg and part of the other one. DVa adjusted only a little bit before she laid still, her head facing the same way as Brigitte's. "Wake me up in twenty minutes."

Brigitte frowned. "How will I know when twenty minutes has passed? There's no way to tell time in here."

DVa paused before saying, "Then wake me up when you're ready." She jerked her head to face Brigitte's with a warning look. "And don't pat my head."

Brigitte held up her hands. "The last times were involuntarily. I can't promise that."

DVa grunted before turning her head back.


	13. Chapter 13

The entire plan was admittedly easier and quicker in Brigitte's head, and probably in DVa's as well. After DVa napped for what felt like twenty minutes (and Brigitte successfully restrained herself from patting DVa like a cat, as sad as she was to say), Brigitte slept like the dead. DVa woke her up once twenty minutes in, shaking her awake from sleeping against the wall sitting on the counter, but it was like waking up on a cold day with only a few hours of sleep: she closed her eyes once and she was out again. The next time she woke, she came to DVa resting her head on Brigitte's shoulder, leaning against her to stay up. Without thinking, Brigitte quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep still, but DVa shook her awake a few minutes later afterwards, saying probably a few hours had passed.

As Brigitte went to the pile of her scattered armor right next to the destroyed OR-14 and the first aid kit in the cafeteria and began reassembling it onto her, DVa ran around the kitchen, opening and closing cupboards. Saying there were brown plastic bags at the bottom of each box of rations, she loaded eight bags with MREs. She held two in each hand and the other fourth against her back. She had used extra bags to fashion herself a backpack, putting the handles of two bags around each of her shoulders and tying the handles of the stuffed bags with them. She looked somewhat odd, but Brigitte was more breath-takingly impressed than anything. "I saw it in a zombie-apocalypse game," she admitted. "Never thought I'd end up using it, but you'd be surprised what video games can teach people. Anyways, if you're ready, then let's get moving."

Back in her medieval-knight, orange-yellow armor, Brigitte carried her mace and shield in one hand and the first-aid kit in the other before following DVa out of the cafeteria. DVa said she knew an exit that led to the side of the mountain through the pitch-black hallways. They linked arms since their hands were full, which Brigitte had no problem doing.

The travel didn't feel long this time. After a few turned here and there and some scares of creeks and clanking, DVa leaned against a door with a push handle. Wind rushed in as the door screeched open, but again, the sudden burst of bright light felt like a flashbang in Brigitte's eyes. Brigitte stepped out into cool air as the door quickly closed shut behind them.

The blur steadily vanished and Brigitte took in the new scenery. On the other side of the mountain, where the hanger door opened to, it was all mountains of white rocks clustered together, going up or down in elevation. But on this end, under the blue sky, there was color: a mile-down edgy decline with dark-green shrubs, short timberwood trees providing shade, and even patches of yellow wildflowers that looked like weeds. Beyond the decline where the ground leveled was a balance of rocks, plants, and dirt roads circling and squiggling around. The entire horizon was mountains far enough to have a white haze covering them like a veil, but they had a blend of redrock, brown earth, and green patches filling the terrain. The turrets on a few of them faced towards their general direction, but seemed shut down.

The scene was almost ecstasy to Brigitte. She even forgot there may have been omnics roaming around. It wasn't the most impressive scene by far, but after being camped inside the bunker for what felt like days straight, including the days before the attack, she began missing the wild. Some people would've thought she was exaggerating since it was only for a few days, but not breathing in fresh air or hearing leaves rustle around you for a while…well, she took it for granted. She hadn't been cooped up and freed like this since she spent days in papa's forge and then sneaking out with Reinhardt when he came to visit their home one day and later went out to drive thugs out of a diner.

DVa, however, was less than thrilled. She simply looked around really quickly after they unlinked their arms before heading down the stairs in front of them. Brigitte had to even catch up after being distracted for a while. Soon after heading down, DVa glanced back to Brigitte. "I assume you know where Bunker 1 is in relation to our position?"

"Yeah." Brigitte found her bearings in position to the noon sun and pointed north, the opposite direction of where they were heading. "It's four, maybe five mountains over, not including where Bunker 29 is."

DVa grunted. "How far is that?"

"Um, about ninety kilometers, I think?"

DVa froze as she fully turned towards Brigitte. " _Ninety?_ "

Brigitte almost laughed at her expression of shock and discomfort of what's about to come. "I think so. It usually takes about twenty-two hours of walking, so if we split that up into two days, we should pace ourselves for about eleven hours of walking a day."

Her jaw dropped and Brigitte giggled a little this time. DVa looked over the mountain in the bunker's direction as Brigitte stepped down and shook DVa's shoulder. "Hard work in its own way, but it's doable. Trust me. I looked just like you when Reinhardt made me carry papa on my back and run a marathon."

DVa turned her face to Brigitte again. "Are you _human_?"

"I am Brigitte Lindholm!" she yelled. "And I will prove myself!" She laughed. "I actually said those exact words to Reinhardt when he questioned me being his squire. Come on, nowhere to go but the long way."

DVa spun around as Brigitte continued descending the stairs. "Is there any other way? Cheats? Shortcuts?"

Brigitte's smile dwindled as she stopped and looked up at her. "I mean, there's over the mountain, but that's usually more vigorous than walking. I don't know where the omnics are, either, so I'd rather stick to this plant life for camouflage than being out in the open."

DVa mumbled something to herself before catching up with Brigitte. "We're going to take breaks, right?"

"We can," Brigitte said as they walked together. "I remember a few lakes and streams around the roads while flying to the bunkers and turrets. I haven't showered in while, so we can hop in those for a bit, but other than that, it'll probably be better to keep moving."

DVa sighed. "When I told my fans 'I wanted to travel to more places,' this was not what I meant."

As DVa and Brigitte travelled on, something along the mountain greenery miles away began to move. Slowly from around a tree, an apricot-colored bastion unit with some dirt and leaves on it eyed them with scoped optics. It made some configurations so hands before beginning to march at a slower pace, directly towards them.


	14. Chapter 14 (Intermission)

**A/N: In stories, some scenes are told rather than shown and vice versa depending on how important it is to the story and whether the author things the readers need and/or want to see something. But for this chapter, this was something I wanted to write and it's not super relevant to the story. If you want to skip this chapter and move on with the main plot of the story, feel free to. But if you do read this, I'd appreciate your opinion on whether you liked this and you want more or if you would have rather went on with the main plot. I had fun writing this, so I wouldn't mind.**

As the two girls strode on a dirt trail, Brigitte in front and DVa behind, alongside a mountain to their left under the blue sky, Dva took a deep breath. "Brigitte?"

"Hmm?" Brigitte hummed.

"I just have a curious question. What's your home like?"

"Home?"

"Yeah, where do you live?"

Brigitte starred off as she walked. They made a turn around a steep side of the mountain, revealing a shallow lake filled with moss and other algae surrounded by shrubs. The view beyond was more or less the same with turrets on mountains, red and brown earth, and shrubs. "Well, I can call several places 'home'. First is the RV Rein and I ride in. It's old and worn down: coffee stains and oil on the living room rug, rips in most of the furniture with cotton spewing from them, the smell of whatever we last ate in the air, that sort of environment. When we do odd jobs for work wherever we can, Rein will now and then see a situation he can't help but get involved with and fight, so most of our funds go towards repairing his armor. I've wanted a bed instead of the sofa we have, but what can I do with the big guy." She happily sighed. "We also have a room that's something like a make-shift forge I created. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call that room 'home' as well, since I spend hours in it.

"The second place is the house where I grew up in while young, in Gothenburg, Sweden. I'm the youngest out of three older brothers, but we also have two cats. Papa was home much more often than mama before the recall, so I came up sort of like a Tomboy. I spent most of my time in the garage, working next to Papa and kind of using Winter—our white cat—for a whole bunch of tests for the things I created. She was that one kind of cat to knock things over without a care and just flop in front of you for attention, so I basically waited for her to come in to the garage to be lazy and built armor for her. I started building a jetpack for her, but I never finished it since I became Rein's squire and recall and all that."

The trail disappeared into a patch of shrubs and trees. They bent beneath branches and hopped from one fluffy shrub to another as she continued:

"The last place is Eichenwalde in Germany. The abandoned castle there has Balderich's armor on the throne and its sort of like a grave marker."

"Who's Balderich?" DVa asked.

Brigitte frowned. "He's…he _was_ a friend of Reinhardt's back when he was a Crusader. I 'ought to let Rein tell you about him if you're more curious."

"Oh, it's ok!" DVa said quickly. "I didn't know he was someone that personal."

Brigitte nodded. "Yeah. We try and pay a visit at least once a year, preferably on the anniversary of his death. We stay usually for a few days; it's usually the best time for R&R. Sad that the last visit was cut short due to recall, but hey, 'not all armor is forged the way we want it.' Truthfully, 'home' is more of _whom_ I'm with rather than where I am since I'm usually not in the same locale for more than a day. Ah, sorry for dragging on. You were probably expecting something less, huh?"

"No, no!" DVa exclaimed. "It was interesting! I didn't think you'd have personal places spread out like that. I think it's cool! Kind of like one of the side characters in 'The Vengeful Vagabond'!"

Brigitte pretended to understand what that meant. The terrain switched from shrubs all over to rocks all over. She made a mental note to herself to pay attention to where she shifted her weight as her boots slid around with most of her steps, scratching the ground. She glanced back at DVa, who was letting her arms dangle with the bags and eyeing the ground. She figured she'd be sluggish under the weight of the food, but her gait was steady and balanced. "What about you, if you don't mind me asking."

"My home." She said it as if it was a curse. "Right now, it's the MEKA base in Busan, South Korea. Two omnic monstrosity incidents ago, it was in an apartment in the built-up city of Pohang, in the Yeongnam region. The city was divided into two gu, or wards, and I lived in Buk-gu, or the northern one. It was a compact place close to poverty, with homes on the second floor of private businesses, local restaurants packed with nearby residents, buses and trains running every half an hour to public and private schools miles away, that sort of city. Pretty cloudy on some days, too. I grew up as a single child, and I was fortunate enough to have my own room. My father fought in the airforce in several of the monstrosity incidents and my mother was a network administrator, so we were considered 'rich.'

"Then the monstrosity came down to Pohang. Previous attacks destroyed other coastal cities like Sokcho, Gangneung, and Donghae and tsunamis wiped the shores of everywhere, but we were farther inland. And…" DVa paused for a moment. Brigitte didn't _dare_ look back or say anything, especially since she wasn't sure what would make it better. "Well, Pohang was destroyed. I was rescued by a government after-effect program and raised as an orphan by MEKA, a sister organization to MMAB, or Military Manpower Administration Busan. So now, home is Busan.

"Busan is similar to what was Pohang, except probably cleaner on the streets. It was also after that incident the monstrosity disabled the auto-pilot mechanics to the mechs, so since Jeong knew about my skills at video games, he trained me to pilot them along with learning how to use all other sorts of equipment. I stay in the city's barracks established for emergencies quite often."

Brigitte thought hard on what to say as they strode in silence after that. To say "sorry" seemed rude as that was like _Wow, your life sucked!_ And to somehow compliment her would seem like she _chose_ to go through all of that. As the rocks went down on an incline to the edge of the mucky lake, all Brigitte could think to say was, "I…I'm honored you'd tell me all of that. I'm glad you're comfortable enough to share that with me."

"You shared what your home is like," DVa pointed out as they hopped from one large, flat rock to another. "So it seemed alright to share what mine is like."

Did what she shared have the same weight as hers? Brigitte thought not, but she didn't mention that. As they reached the edge of the large, which lightly caressed the rocks they stood on, DVa said, "I feel like my life is an RPG game. I wished I was given a super mech."

"MEKA has _super_ mechs?" Brigitte asked surprisingly.

"No. It'd be cool if they did, though."

"Oh."

The atmosphere seemed lighter but didn't seem light enough for a casual statement. Plus, Brigitte was itching to say something. She took a small breath. "Places and things can be destroyed, but as long as there's people, they can always be rebuilt."

DVa laughed weakly. "Sounds like Reinhardt from years ago."

"I may have stolen that line from him. He says it about every time we visit Eichenwalde."

Brigitte didn't turn around but kept her eyes on the rocks to make sure she didn't skid into the green-indigo water to her right. She wasn't sure if that helped or not and it seemed harder to meet DVa's eyes at the moment.

But as the terrain shifted from rocks to a dirt path beneath a few trees and away from the lake, now surrounded by shrubs, DVa sighed and thumped. Brigitte turned to see her on her knees, looking through one of the bags. The sun beaming down on her air made it look hot red and small beads of sweat were starting to form on her face. "Pause. Need to refill my stamina points."

"DVa, we've only been walking for an hour, though."

DVa jaw dropped, and all of a sudden, Brigitte's caution was replaced with happiness. "Ten more hours to go for today!"

DVa grunted, her cheeks slightly puffing out, as Brigitte came and sat next to her. "Why is this game of life's difficulty stuck on 'legendary'? How do I access settings?"

"No idea." Brigitte leaned forward, looking into the same bag as DVa. "How much more French toast you got in there?"


	15. Chapter 15

Eleven hours flew by. From the afternoon through the evening and into the night, they hiked along the perimeter of rocky and green mountains, staying at the point where the mountains and the land leveled out. They took several breaks underneath trees and behind makeshift forts of rock or dry bushes, whatever concealed their view. She was on guard for omnics at all times, but the strangest thing was she never saw _one._ After walking about a marathon in her shoes, Brigitte didn't see any bastions, any omnic animals, any OR-14s, no nothing. She was suspicious how easy it was for them to move around, but she let her guard down just low enough for her to enjoy the hike. Brigitte felt the burn on her legs and arms, but she had been through fights and long marches like this one before when she traveled with Reinhardt. Hours after nightfall, Brigitte was sore, but still ready to go.

But there was no way DVa could say the same.

Throughout the entire hike, she lagged behind, dangling her arms with the bags and wobbling around rocks, shrub, and trees. Whenever they took a break, she sat down and ate something, mowing down French toast until they were gone before moving to beef stew. Brigitte carried a few of her bags whenever she began to breath heavily and almost ended up just carrying everything. Came nightfall, she sat on a pillow of grass in the midst of small rocks and broken branches from the trees around them. Crickets had been chirping louder than the small breezes that came every hour it seemed, they smelt like leaves, lake water (they bathed in one of the lakes; it was getting bad for Brigitte), and light sweat, and the moonlight from above seemed as bright as the sun. Besides being able to look directly at it in the black sky with numerous stars, the trees gave off pretty dark shadows with the mountain south of them.

DVa coughed as she untied all the bags off her and put them to the side before she laid flat on her back, her hair collecting small pits of twings and dust. "I'm done. Where's the 'concede' button?"

"We hit the checkpoint," Brigitte reassured her. She was breathing heavily too, but her breaths were more controlled. "You did a great job today."

DVa weakly smiled. "I've been through the MEKA boot camp. I hated it—and I hate it still—but I'm just not another pretty face."

"So I see." Brigitte began undoing the straps to her armor before stripping it off and putting it in a pile besides their bag of food and their first-aid kit. She was back in her tank top and overalls, with her beefy arms flushed red from all the blood pumping through her. She sat down next to DVa, keeping her shield and mace in her hands, ready for action. "You want to take first watch or me?"

"Can you?" DVa asked. Her eyes were already fluttering closed. "I'm exhausted."

"Sure. Don't worry about a thing."

DVa nodded. "Good…good…" She never said the word 'night.' After she fully closed her eyes, she shifted her body so her head was next to Brigitte's legs and threw off her headphones to the side. She grappled with Brigitte's thigh until it was DVa's comfy pillow before lying dead still.

Brigitte smiled as she observed DVa's sleeping face, which looked like one of her niece's. She reached out and grabbed a bag of Italian MRE's and soon began eating mushed spaghetti noodles and meat sauce in the same shape as the French toast.

Hours flew by as Brigitte began to think about everything that had happened to her. She first thought of Reinhardt and Torbjorn and what they were probably doing right now. It's been a day and a half since the attack and she still had no contact with them. Hopefully, that would change by tomorrow. They _had_ to be safe. She remembered papa's tale of fighting off dozens of omnics with Reinhardt, Lena, and Angela (she at least knew Tracer and Mercy's real names) in the event that came to be known as "Uprising." They been in battles dozens of times and survived to tell her each of them. This one should've been no different for them. And hopefully, for her, too. If help was coming within a few days at the least, they would most likely be two of the agents for their rescue mission. It was hopefully just a matter of time before seeing them.

And DVa. Brigitte had many thoughts about DVa. She disliked her when they first met, sure, but even though it's been little over a day, she felt to be as important as Reinhardt and Torb, her family. She thought of her as a sister for a moment, but that didn't seem—or _feel_ , anyways—quite right. Sure, she reminded Brigitte of her cats back home. Sure, she was attractive with her nimble and thin appearance, anybody would say that. Sure, she spoke like life was a game, but now after seeing she was taking the situation seriously, that didn't bother her at all. She had the quirks of a friend or a sister, but they seemed to be like…it was like…ah, she didn't know. Words failed her. But if one thing was for certain, as weird as this could sound to others, she was somewhat happy to be in this situation. She wasn't a daredevil, getting excited when being shot at and not knowing if she was going to die, but this was all glorious. She never had a story to share with Reinhardt or papa that they weren't in. Now she did.

Five hours into DVa's rest, Brigitte distinguished the sound of metal amongst the crickets. It started off faint, but the rhythmic heavy _thumps_ continued, getting louder. Without thinking, she shook DVa hard, waking her up immediately. She sat up and sprung to her legs as Brigitte did, quickly turning her head in every direction. "W-where's the enemy?" she whispered.

"Listen," Brigitte whispered back.

Eventually, DVa heard it too. She frowned as she looked around. "Where's it coming from?"

Brigitte didn't realize that. As she turned her head, the sound stayed the same. Were there multiple units coming from all directions? If so…

Brigitte activated her shield and squeezed the handle of her mace in a coordinated way. The tip of the mace spread out, brightening the area and trees around them with an orange glow and sending waves of heat out. With each wave, she felt her skin hardening as tiny bits of metal were becoming solid on contact with her clothes and skin. Adrenaline began to surge through her arms and legs, too. She was wide awake.

"Brigitte, what…?" DVa looked at her body like she was given a new suit, even though she looked the same.

"No time," Brigitte said. "But decide for me right now: fight or flight?"


	16. Chapter 16

Part of Brigitte wanted to fight. The micro molten cores gave her and DVa small bits of protection and adrenaline, something that always made her feel unstoppable. But at the same time, DVa had no weapon and Brigitte had took her armor off to relax her muscles. The only real defensive value they had was Brigitte's shield and the only offensive value they had was her mace.

DVa seemed to have been taking all of this into consideration. She cursed in Korean. "Flight. Let's try to come back for the armor."

"Then stick with me." Brigitte faced towards the direction of Bunker 1 and leaped through the broken branches from the trees around them that had created a light veil around their resting area. On the otherside was the usual nature scenery of the moonlight lighting everything, the rocks and shrubs, and the mountains dotting the landscape and horizon. But in front and to the sides of them were several bastion units, some probably behind them, too.

In that instant, Brigitte thought they were dead. Knowing what bastion turrets were capable of and having no solid cover while fleeing, they might as well would have been just simple target practice.

But on a closer look at the bastion in front of them, its eye turning red, it was stepping back. Where its usual rotary cannon normally should've been was a massive spiral drill, one meant for digging. In one hand was a shovel of some sort and in the other where his hand gun should've been was a claw, the one used for grappling hooks. In fact, the rest of the bastions with their eyes turning read had the same equipment on them.

Brigitte hesitated as DVa came out with the bags of food on her. She quickly eyed Brigitte and the bastion that was now walking to their side, trying to group with the other bastions. "Wha—?"

"I don't know," Brigitte said, "but come on!" She took off over rocks and shrubs with DVa right behind her, inside Brigitte's aura. The nearest mountain to them was without a turret and about a mile away. "That mountain should be a bunker." Brigitte glanced back. All but one of the bastion units kept their red eyes on the two. The last one was configuring itself. This one had a rotary cannon.

They were in trouble. Neither of them had armor on to properly take bullets and her shield might've only lasted a few seconds against the turret. The nearest form of natural cover was probably six seconds away.

But as fate would have it, there was a massive _KA-BOOM!_ with a green laser the size of one of the mountains piercing the starry sky. The ground shook so hard, everything fell as the cannon began bastion began firing: the trees, the other bastions, and the two girls. As the laser reached where clouds might've been if it was daytime, a small explosion went off like an orange firework. DVa scratched her hands and knees against the rocks as Brigitte turned and fell over her, propping her shield. Her shield began to crumble as a barrage of bullets sprayed it, but before it broke, one of the trees that sheltered them wobbled out of its roots and fell in front of the bastion. Brigitte completely loss her balance and fell next to DVa, who seemed to have given up on getting onto her feet. Laying on her back as the shaking continued, she noticed a trail of smoke (she assumed it was smoke) covering some of the stars in the sky in the pattern of a line as a jet of some sort went down in flames we out from the mountain range.

Brigitte thought. As far as she knew, none of the weaponry within the mountain range had that kind of range or plasma rounds. Second, it shot a human aircraft. Was the weapon in hostile hands? She couldn't be sure. For all she knew, that jet flying down could've had omnics in them. What worried her was that couldn't have been pure luck, it must've been intentionally aiming. What in the worold could have that kind of accuracy? Third, based off the projectile size as it shot up and guessing from how quick it shrunk as it flew out, that came from within the mountain range.

What _was_ that?

The shaking didn't let up. A massive wave of wind blew down from the sky, pinning them more against the ground as they heard the rotary cannon shooting through wood and obliterating rocks behind them. Brigitte tried rolling over, but something felt wrong. All of a sudden, she felt completely sore. Her eyelids felt glued together after each blink as her muscles began to loosen up.

 _No, not now!_ Brigitte thought. The glow from her mace had disappeared and the adrenaline rush was over. Extreme fatigue was doing a number on her and her sleep exhaustion was synergizing with it. Her senses began to dull: her vision began to blur, the sounds around her began to muffle, the wind against the skin on her arms began to fade. Even the smell of the mountain range with its grass and now smoke, along with a fresh layer of light sweat, began to zone out. If she didn't know any better, she was dreaming. Most likely, her body had forced itself into shutting down while she mentally fought to stay awake, giving her sleep paralysis. She couldn't even move her lips.

As the stars began to twinkle and fade with the shaking finally beginning to let up, she watched hopelessly as DVa had gotten onto her knees and began shaking her. Her face was in panic and was shouting something, but her hearing was like she was underwater. After a blink, she felt her arm being tugged. She felt her body being dragged over rocks and gravel and it felt like a horrible massage as if a broken machine was giving her one. After another blink, her left side was squeezed against rock of a makeshift trench no bigger than a twin-sized bed as DVa stood over her with her shield. She stood with the small space available around her feet with the bags of food on the other side of Brigitte. She looked all around them before glancing down at her with a worried expression. There were holes in the palms of her gloves and knees and grim over the rest of the suit.

After her final blink, her senses began to sharpen again. She could hear the crickets and the wind above her as clearly as seeing each individual star with the moonlight filling half of the hole they were in. DVa was still on guard with the shield, still turning around before ducking into the hole. Her body was movable again, but it was still sluggish. As she forced herself to sit up, DVa, standing from above, spun towards her, blocking the moon with her head. Her headphones were gone and her face paint had just about completely faded away. Her nose was red and her eyes swollen. "Finally," she croaked in a whisper as she knelt down. She opened one of the bags of food as Brigitte fully sat up. She grabbed a pasta bar (basically a massive pop tart with pasta meat and sauce for the filling) and handed it to her.

Brigitte took the bar with noodle arms. "Wh-what's going on?" Her throat felt sore like there was slime cumulating.

"I-I'm not sure." DVa peeked over the trench. "I think they think we're dead. The one bastion with the turret got up and walked behind the trees. But the other ones… they've been digging."

Now that she mentioned it, Brigitte did hear a light sound of drilling, but it was hard to hear over the several crickets making an orchestra. She pulled open the pasta bar wrapping and began eating into it. The bar itself didn't taste like pasta; it just tasted like bread and watered-down tomato sauce. But she felt hungry on the first bite, so she just kept eating. "How long was I out?"

"Not long," DVa reported before kneeling back into the hole. "Maybe an hour. You came to a few times but passed out just as quickly. I thought you'd do the same this time."

They were silent for a moment as Brigitte shoved the rest of the pasta bar into her mouth, her cheeks bulging. She let the food go down as the hunger pain began to fade. "Alright. We need to keep moving."

"No, you need to rest," DVa exclaimed. "You only had an hour. This is as good as where we just were…where they're digging." She got up to look over the edge again really quickly before coming back down. She looked troubled, and Brigitte didn't blame her. They both knew the bunkers were around, but based on their structure, there shouldn't have been anything beneath them. It was unlikely they didn't know this if all the units shared information with each other, so they must've been digging for a reason. One they were unaware of.

Brigitte slowly placed her feet firmly on the ground. With her boots gone, she could make out the flat surface beneath them and how cold it was. She needed to be careful.

"Wait, what are you doing?" DVa asked. "Lay down."

"I'm ok," Brigitte lied. "But if we can rest in an area where omnics aren't likely to accidentally discover us, I'd feel much better. I can go just for a little bit longer."

DVa looked like she wanted to protest, but she drew back a deep breath. "Ok. As long as you don't collapse on me again."

"Promise." Brigitte stood straight up, her head completely popping over the edge. Sure enough, where the armed bastion unit had stood was gone from sight, but she could more clearly hear the sound of drilling from where they were. She prayed they had no interest in her armor. They were definitely coming back for that. Just not now.

DVa had finished grabbing all the bags of food as Brigitte grabbed her shield and mace from the ground. Keeping her eyes peeled in the direction of the small gathering of fallen trees, trees with holes, and new earth crevices around them, Brigitte jumped up and pulled herself out of the hole. She stood up before DVa reached out and grabbed her hand, helping her up as she crawled out, too. And with that, they left with a jogging pace towards the mountain in front of them.

Brigitte decided to hold back on mentioning that DVa appeared to have cried. Brigitte knew she wasn't to blame. Stressed had probably done her in. She didn't have a weapon of her own this entire time (the rocket launcher in the hanger of Bunker 29 didn't count) and Brigitte could only imagine what that's been like. They've been in several omnic encounters already and all she was able to do was run and hide. And topping that off with how Brigitte just went unconscious a few times, well…that would've done _anyone_ in. Reality check: their situation was pretty close to hopeless. She decided that when they reached Bunker 1, they were finding DVa a weapon. Brigitte didn't care if she had to build one out of scraps—there was _plenty_ of metal around them—or if she had to sever it from an omnic.

They ran quicker than before. With her armor off, now back in her I-LIKE-EXERCISE-CAUSE-I-LIKE-EATING black tank top and red overalls, she felt a bird ready to fly. She was still sluggish from the sleep deprivation and fatigue, but she was still going. In times like this, that's all that mattered. DVa was also pushing. She looked exhausted as she had throughout the day, but she was jogging close behind Brigitte whenever she glanced back. Brigitte was seriously impressed.

Within minutes, they reached the incline of the mountain. From the terrain and the horizon, they were on one of the more elevated ones. If they jogged for a minute more in either direction around the mountain, they would perhaps come to a cliff facing the east. Bunker one was still out of sight, but it was probably behind a few of the mountains miles off in the north. After a good rest and assuming nothing bad would happen, they would definitely make it there by the afternoon.

Keeping their eyes peeled, DVa soon spotted a set of stairs leading to the middle of mountain, beneath dark red and green plants growing over them. They hiked up the stairs until they reached a steel door with a painted "8" on it. Locked shut.

DVa sighed. "Maybe there's another door around here."

"I hope," Brigitte agreed. Her eyelids were feeling heavy again. "Let's check around the mountain. If not, lets find somewhere to call it a rest."

They jogged to their left, awkwardly placing their feet to make sure they weren't tripping and stumbling down. Brigitte's socks were now soiled and scratched and her feet began to lightly pulse. She's been through this before in training with Reinhardt, but that didn't mean she liked it. Oh, how she just wanted to lie down and not have to worry about necessities. DVa was on to something. Where was the 'concede' button?

AS they came to face east, they came to a rather steep incline. Instead of hiking it up, Brigitte placed her front against the front and began to crawl up. The ledge above them was only a few meters high, it wasn't anything dangerous. But as she poked her head above the ledge and examined the surroundings, her eyes locked on to something and her jaw dropped.

DVa noticed this as she crawled up next to her. "What?" she whispered before she reached the top. She pulled her head above the ledge, she immediately saw what Brigitte was seeing. Her jaw dropped.

Imagine a daddy long-leg spider. Turn it into a purple-painted omnic. Make it the size of two to three mountains put together. Place a massive drill on the bottom of its stomach and a cannon with its barrel the size of a mountain on top, with green steam rising from its back like an active volcano. Turn its eyes into floodlights, scanning all around in front of it with its eight eyes. Now put dozens of omnics of all kinds around it, like an army. Put that all in the mountain range background with the moonlight shining over all of it and you had what they were seeing miles off.

Neither of them could pull their jaws up. Dozens of thoughts were flying through Brigitte's mind. That _had_ to be where the green laser that just shot the aircraft from the sky a few moments ago (or an hour ago, whatever) came from. No aircraft had shields of any sort that could withstand that, she was positive of that fact. Plus, somehow, they had no idea up to this point that it was even there. She imagined that if one of its legs were to step in any direction that the ground would shake lightly from where they were laying down. At the very least, they should have been able to hear it move from miles away. How did they not?

"B-Brigitte…" DVa's eyes were wide. Brigitte imagined that's what she would look like if she ever saw the omnic monstrosity. Her voice quivered, but her high pitch still sounded solid.

DVa didn't need to say what she was thinking; Brigitte already knew. She swallowed. "We need to call off that evac."


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry fam. Life hit me hard and I honestly began to think I wouldn't be able to continue this. Luckily, all is better, life is good (until life throws the next curve ball), and I still remember how to get to the end of this story. Let's hope we can make it. :)**

If it wasn't for the fact that Brigitte was sleep deprived, she wouldn't have gotten any sleep at all.

The two of them took shelter among a grove of trees on the mountain, surrounded by undergrowth of roots, decaying leaves, and weeds. Crickets screeched around them as if they were within their nest, but that was a good thing. If anything approached them, they'd stop and the girls would know.

DVa dropped to her knees gasping as Brigitte fell flat on the ground, her chest and knees putting pressure on the compacted dirt beneath her. The canopy blocked most of the moonlight, giving the gloomy forest around them a haunted feeling.

DVa slid the bags of food off her. "I'll take first watch," she said. "I _know_ you're worse than me right now."

Brigitte hated to admit that. Right now, she wanted to do nothing more than to reach Bunker 1 and get ahold of Reinhardt, Torbjorn, Sancha, _anyone_ , and tell them not to rescue them. But that desire was limited by her body. And her body wasn't going to have that. It needed rest.

Brigitte nodded before curling up, using her hand as a pillow. She closed her eyes, but she couldn't find herself drifting off. She felt on edge, waiting for another cannon fire or gun shot to sound around her. She tried several methods to put herself to sleep like counting to 100 and stretching, but none of them worked. Her nerves were stronger than her sleep deprivation.

After a few moments of hopelessly trying, she felt her head rise before being placed on something warm and squishy. She opened her eyes to see part of DVa's abdomen and hip. A section of pink and blue of her suit had faded together, looking like a cotton candy hue. DVa had placed her head on her thigh and was now rubbing the side of it.

Brigitte wasn't sure if she knew she was awake or not, but she didn't care. Without realizing it, she began to remember when she was young. Whenever she overexerted herself while helping papa in the forge, Brigitte would ball up on the ground and sleep. Every so often, papa would see her, stop hammering, and sit next to her to rub her head until she fell asleep. It worked miracles when she was a kid, and it still did. Without knowing when, Brigitte fell asleep.

She awoke to a morning sun the next morning. Her eyes fluttered open as she realized the pressure on her thigh. She groggily sat up like a seal and noticed DVa sleeping soundly on her leg. The crickets had stopped and the forest was brighter, although it was still a bit gloomy. Brigitte reached for a bag of food and was soon eating a poptart. She couldn't recall if she woke up at some point and was supposed to be on watch or if DVa had let her sleep. They weren't dead and nothing was gone, so no harm was done on neither of them being on watch. That wasn't something she wanted to get used to, though.

DVa came to as Brigitte accidentally moved her leg, trying to reach for another poptart. She groggily crawled on all fours before looking around, her eyes barely open. She slid into a criss-cross position and yawned. "Morning."

"Morning." Brigitte finished chewing her last poptart as DVa reached for one herself. She was hesitant to ask as unreasonable guilt began to settle on her but took a silent breath. "Did I ever go on watch last night?"

DVa shook her head as she tore open a bar. "You weren't waking up when it was your turn, and I thought that was for the best. I made sure to sleep lightly until the crickets died off to make sure." DVa looked her in the eyes with a serious yet concerned face. "Are you ok? If you still need rest…"

DVa faltered as her mind wandered off. Brigitte knew what she was thinking: they couldn't be wasting any time. Brigitte stood up, grabbing the bags. "I'm ready. I'll carry these as you eat."

DVa nodded and stood up, keeping a tart in hand. Once Brigitte checked the surroundings, they wandered off to the stairs they found last night and began heading down. Brigitte didn't know why, but as she looked to the sky, seeing smoke rising from behind mountains behind them, she couldn't help but get a bad feeling about today.


	18. Chapter 18

Long story short, they made it to Bunker 1 by the afternoon.

They kept their eyes peeled during their trek for omnics as they went from the base of one mountain to the next, traveling around it. They did see legions of the omnics, but they were all doing the same thing as the bastions before: digging. Whether in the sun, in a glade, or even beneath a tree, the two could hear the drills banging rock and see debris flying. The breeze carried the scent of their metals towards them once in a great while, but nature's smell of leaves and trees overpowered it for the most part. Not until the sun heated them both to a sweat and left them feeling ugly for a few hours.

When they reached Bunker 1, they laid low, spread out among tall dead grass on their stomachs like lions in a prairie. The mountain was like a turtle shell, plated with flat, white rocks in a dome shape. Omnic animals (like the metallic wolves in Bunker 29) roamed around the base, keeping their eyes peeled to the ground. Brigitte spotted a stone stairway leading to the top of the mountain. They were about a hundred meters away, but she could spot a tiny bump on the tip of it, resembling a handle.

DVa quietly slipped her bags off of her onto the ground, crinkling as they fell. "We'll make less sound this way," she whispered.

Brigitte nodded. "Maybe we'll come back for that. Follow my lead. Are you ready?"

DVa nodded. As the metallic fox continued patrolling away from the stairs with no other omnic in sight, they pushed themselves onto their feet, without making a sound. Brigitte checked every step before looking both ways, placing a foot in front of the next, and repeating the process. To balance a mace and shield while tip-toeing felt like being in a circus, but she managed it well. In seconds, they made haste up the steps. As they were now in plain sight, they ran, making their footsteps as light as possible. Once at the top, there was a trap door as big as a sewer entrance, but also a hole several feet wide to the side. They gazed down to see the sunlight illuminating a small corridor with rock and metal debris ten feet below.

This was the better option. Brigitte wasn't sure if the trap door was even locked. If it wasn't, it could've made a sound. She handed DVa her shield and mace before positioning herself like she was entering a pool, crawling on all fours and slowly dipping her lower half into the hole while hanging on with her hands. Once she was fully in, she let go, skidding onto the pile and spreading it out. She looked down the corridor before motioning DVa to come in. DVa gently threw down Brigitte's weapons before repeating her process. Instead of landing on the pile, Brigitte caught her by the waist, her face against DVa's hip and close to something else. She lowered her onto the ground before removing it from the fabric of her hot and sticky suit. They looked at each other, both of their faces red, but probably from the heat. Probably.

DVa looked both ways. "So, know where the Command Room is?"

Brigitte shook her head. DVa looked down the corridor herself before pointing forward. Then they moved on, checking each corner of the labyrinth with white walls, zig-zag pips and valves, and closed doors. Whenever they heard a sound, they'd freeze before hastily rushing away from it. Whenever they came across a door, they'd check for a handle handle and read any signs around it. There were several other holes in the ceiling, providing sunlight in many sections. They came across an unlocked bathroom with its faucets still running (they grabbed a drink of water from the sinks), a locked generator room, and a peculiar violet-hue door that looked much different from the rest of them. It only had a keyhole and its hinges were on the outside, unlike the rest of the doors. Brigitte noted it, but kept moving on as DVa took the lead. "I don't know why," she whispered, "but this layout…it's like…ah, what was that game called?"

"I don't know, but what?" Brigitte hated how she sounded, but her nerves were starting to get the better of her.

"It's like important rooms are towards the edges. If we entered the center where the bathroom barracks were, then the Command Room…no, I must be imagining it. It'd be too great of a coincidence."

"Let's try your logic anyway," Brigitte suggested. With no sense or bearing of the place, something was better than nothing. "Where do you think the Command Room is?"

Instead of answering, DVa increased her pace. She made several sharp turns, grabbing onto pipes as she swung around corners. She suddenly stopped in front of a lone door in a short corridor, next to a dead end. It had nothing: no handle, no key hole, no hinges, no signs. Only a small control panel with a keypad on the wall was to the right. DVa slightly bent down to observe the passing words on the mini monitor. "'Identification code' it says." She punched in a set of numbers only to get DENIED. " _What?"_

"Here, let me try." DVa stood to the side mumbling as Brigitte bent down to see the numbers. When coming to the mountain range, she was given a code that acted as access to the engine rooms and mainframes of the turrets. She punched hers in, but only to also receive DENIED as well. She hoped her face wasn't as aghast as DVa's was.

DVa began speaking in Korean as Brigitte's mind raced. Assuming this _was_ the Control Room, the most important rooms were usually constructed with the hardest minerals that could be found, so breaking in was out of the question. She had no idea where to possibly search for a passcode, much less have the time to find it. It was possible there were more ways into the room, but unless the architect was a fool (which she doubted), it would have been too well hidden to be found out, even by a coincidence. No, there had to be a way. There were lives on the line; there _had_ to be a way.

DVa moaned in frustration. "If only Jeong told me his! If he was telling me confidential information anyway, why not just share the passcode?"

Brigitte's mind clicked. She smiled with hope as she punched in a different passcode. GRANTED. The door unlocked and popped open, Brigitte grabbing it before it closed on itself. She turned to DVa with the same smile. DVa looked confused. "Thanks for saying that. I forgot I knew papa's number. C'mon!"

The room was the size and shape of a baseball field, with rows of computers, cleared desks, and filing cabinets separated by stair aisles leading down to the front. A massive table with office chairs scooted in occupied where the stairs led. Behind it, taking up most of the wall, was a monitor the size of a movie screen. Bulletin boards covered the walls, with dozens of flyers and sticky notes scattered on them. Contrary to what she expected, some of the computers were still running, displaying flashes of tiny red, blue, and green lights. The ceiling lights were off, but the aisles had small lights illuminating small parts of the rug. It wasn't ideal, but just enough so that Brigitte's eyes were already adjusting.

"So, I was right," DVa said as the door closed behind her. "Was the architect also a gamer?"

Brigitte scanned the computers until she found one at the end of the room with wires leading up to the monitor. She dashed over and sat down in it's chair, turning on the screen. DVa kneeled beside her as the screen turned on, displaying the log in screen. She punched in Torbjorn's code to reveal the next screen—Window's update.

DVa murmured something in Korean as Brigitte did in Swedish.

A few minutes later, the home screen popped up. Besides some file names, everything was in Korean.

DVa smiled. "I think _I_ can take it from here." She slid into the chair, squishing her bottom and leg against Brigitte's. Without thinking, Brigitte slid out, standing next to the chair as DVa centered in. DVa's body corrected itself into a unique posture, with her mouse wrist slightly above the edge of the table and her other hand's fingers on "A," "W," and "D." Now that she was thinking, Brigitte felt regretful for some reason.

DVa navigated around, opening menus and different applications. Brigitte propped open her shield and leaned against it, her arms balancing against its top margin as she spectated (Brigitte's "Relaxed" victory pose). "Have you done this before?"

"If you mean 'Skype,' then all the time."

Brigitte frowned. "It's a military base. They wouldn't use an app for the public consumer, would they? Doesn't the military have its own unique programs?"

"Sure they do," Dva agreed. "I'm not actually looking for Skype itself, though."

DVa continued on until a loading notification and a two-button option popped up. On clicking one of them, the monitor came to life, displaying the same thing on the computer. "Apparently, the monitor has a camera that displays the entire room," she informed. "Whoever picks up isn't going to have the best vision of us, to say the least."

The monitor blared white before focusing on a familiar Hispanic woman with dark hair in a bun. Her face mirrored Brigitte's as she put her hands to her mouth. "Sancha!"


	19. Chapter 19

Brigitte was almost brought to tears seeing another human besides DVa, much more being someone she knew (well, at least recognized). The middle-aged woman wore a button-up lab coat with a nametag over the pocket: "Sancha Rodriguez, Head of the Defense Research Facilities." Her skin was slightly wrinkled near the forehead and cheeks, but the glint in her small brown eyes told Brigitte she could live on for dozens of more years. She sat at a curved desk with a steaming coffee cup to her side. Behind her were several other men and women in identical coats at computers.

Sancha put her hands down from her mouth, typing into the keyboard as Brigitte came down to the front. She stopped behind the long table below, starring up at the monitor. "[Thank the Lord]," Sancha spoke in Spanish. "You're alive."

Brigitte nodded. "We had a rough time getting here, but we're alive and well."

"We?" Sancha asked.

"Hana Song," DVa greeted as she came down the stairs behind her, "'DVa' of the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army."

Sancha covered her mouth again. "[Oh, this is wonderful]!" she spoke before looking off screen. "Commander Jeong!"

A few moments later, a short Asian man with a buzzcut in a green uniform came to the screen. He looked stout like a wrestler but had chubby cheeks and a babyish face. His eyes looked around before seeing the girls and widening them. A smile came to his face. "Hana…"

"Commander Jeong," DVa greeted back, standing at attention. "Ready to report."

Everyone's faces hardened. Brigitte wished she could dwell in the joyous reunion, but DVa was right to be curt. Time was of the essence.

"Right," said Jeong. "What's your status, pilot?"

"Green, sir."

He nodded. "And you? Brigitte Lindholm?"

"Uh, well. Sir." She knew her face was turning red. She could see DVa resisting to crack smile.

Jeong chuckled. "Good to hear. Both of your current statuses were MIA, but I'll be happy to change that. So? What's the situation?"

"Sir, the omnics have an unidentified, colossal-sized anti-aircraft weapon with a brigade of medium-size infantry clustered around it, last seen several kilometers east of Bunker 8 a day ago. Brigitte and I have seen its firepower first hand; it can wipe out a mother ship of a fleet with one round. If any Birds are traveling towards the mountains, please call them off _now_."

Sancha's eyes widened as Jeong stood up straight. "I'm going to inform General Harold of this verbal report. Pilot DVa, standby for further orders. Dr. Sancha, maintain connection."

"Sir!" the two women shouted as Jeong walked off the screen. A few of the others behind Sancha glanced at the screen a few times before continuing on with their business.

"Sancha?" Brigitte asked out. "If you don't mind me asking, what's the situation on your end like?"

She rested her arms against the table and leaned her forehead against her hand. "Just yesterday, the decision was made to conduct a full retake of the mountain range. A fleet of ships is heading towards your position as we speak."

Their jaws dropped. Brigitte assumed just a small ship with perhaps a platoon was coming to rescue them. But a _full retake_? "Where's Reinhardt? And Torbjorn?"

"Reinhardt is on one of the ships. Excuse my informality, but he was bringing nothing but hell wherever he went around here until something was sent to find you two. And Torbjorn is here in Phoenix, constructing a new weapon. Details are classified."

Brigitte's chest ached. Knowing the big guy was coming used to be her greatest source of hope. Now that it was a bad idea to come, she could feel the despair slowly seeping into her.

"How much time before their arrival?" DVa asked.

She shrugged. "A few hours at best. No worries. If the fleet is commanded to come back—which I can't imagine why it wouldn't be—they should not come into view of whatever weapon you saw. Also, I know Bunker 1 has an emergency arsenal of maneuverable ground vehicles. You two are in a good position for evac."

"And ma'am?" Brigitte wanted to let this go, but it had somehow begun to nag at her. "We've noticed several omnics specialized for digging near and around the mountains, which we've found unusual. Should we be concerned?"

Sancha narrowed her eyebrows. "Digging?"

"A few bastion units have been reconfigured to be efficient at digging," DVa explained. "We found that behavior…unsettling."

Sancha continued to look confused until her eyes bulged. Her mouth slowly dropped as if she just witnessed the death of someone right in front of her. _They know,_ she mouthed.

"Ma'am?" Brigitte asked.

But she never answered. Jeong had returned with a grave expression on his face. He kneeled down next to the computer. "We've lost all contact with Fleet BlueJay. Pilot DVa, what is the status of the electromagnetic dome barrier?"

Her stern face wavered as Brigitte's and Sancha's turned to horror. "Pardon?"

"Sir," Sancha interrupted, trying to maintain her composure, "if I may, she can't know unless she checks the program. It's invisible to the naked eye."

His grimace worsened. "Pilot DVa, access the mainframe of the control panel to the Command Room. Dr. Sancha will give you instructions on how to check it. I was the last to use the computer I believe, so the language should be in Korean."

"Sir!" DVa spun and raced towards the steps and towards the computer. Brigitte just stood there, feeling a bit useless. More importantly, if the fleet Reinhardt was on had lost contact and was heading towards…no. She couldn't let it happen. "Is there something I can do? Sir?"

He starred at her for a moment. "Find materials to write something down with. I'm going to give you passcodes to an arsenal beneath you. When it's no longer of use to you, burn it."

As Brigitte found a pen and some paper in a filing cabinet, she scribbled down a series of letters and numbers sounded out by Jeong. The monitor lit up most of the room, so vision was no problem. Just as she finished, DVa shrieked, "I-I can't!"

Brigitte rolled up the paper and placed it in her overall pocket as she jogged to DVa. She was furiously clicking over a button of a two-option pop up, but nothing was happening. Brigitte tried to look at the symbols of the buttons. "Wha—"

"It's a 'Yes' or 'No' and it's asking me if I want to disable the dome barrier! I'm clicking 'Yes' but nothing is happening!"

"Sh! Sh! Sssshhhh…" whispered Brigitte, unconsciously putting her hand on DVa's shoulder and rubbing it. It was an involuntary reaction for when Reinhardt began to lose his temper. Suddenly remembering how DVa got upset when her head was patted, she made her a cautious glance. Contrary to what Brigitte thought would be happening—DVa becoming like an angered cat and pushing her away—Dva's rate of breathing dropped dramatically. The ferocity in her eyes calmed until she was just simply worn. In the moment, the computer screen quickly spazzed before returning to normal. She thought she imagined it, but Brigitte swore she saw something of a purple skull among the static.

DVa took a deep breath before looking at the monitor. "The system is not enabling me to deactivate the barrier."

Jeong let out a long, distressed sigh. "Protocol demands that the ships either maintain their position or turn back when losing contact with Control. But if it's the worse-case scenario and the fleet isn't stopping, then the barrier needs to be destroyed. DVa, make your way down to the vehicle arsenal beneath you. Brigitte, the first passcode should work on a purple door you may have seen within one of the corridors. It's voice activated, so make sure you say the code clearly. The rest of the codes should work on the other locked doors on the way down, the codes being in chronological order. Once you get there, take the fastest vehicle you see. Mobility matters most in this situation. Head towards the nearest dome barrier generator and destroy it."

"Where is that, sir?" DVa asked.

"I know where it is," Brigitte said. As she inspected the turrets before, she perceived that some of them were actually generators. She thought it was strange, but now it made sense. "It's the 'turret' closest to Bunker 84, a few miles north of here."

Jeong nodded. "The vehicles should have radios built into them. Although I doubt there's any channel with signal as deep underground as it is, once you reach the surface, we should be able to establish contact again. Any questions?" The girls shook their head. "Then good luck. May we be in contact again soon."

"Good luck, girls," Sancha added. Then the window of their program went black, darkening the room.

The two of them wasted no time. DVa rising from their chair, they bolted towards the door and ran back into the corridors.


	20. Chapter 20

As soon as they reached the purple door, beeps and metal clanking began to echo throughout the corridors. At the end of the corridor they stood in was a junction with a torn-through hole in the ceiling, letting sunlight enter through its irregular, circular shape. But before Brigitte could start reading the code, a shadow with the shape of a human with a gun as a hand covered the floor.

Brigitte growled, shoving the code into DVa's hands. It was a string of letters and numbers in a random order that Brigitte estimated would take 20 seconds to read. They needed time. "Read this instead. I'll be your shield." She switched her mace from her shield hand to her right and propped it open as a silver humanoid omnic slammed down on the ground. Standing six feet tall, its single red eye quickly spotted Brigitte before raising its black, assault gun (Nulltrooper, Uprising).

DVa didn't protest. She began verbally reading the code as Brigitte marched forward, taking light plasma shots against her shield. She thought about not even challenging the nulltrooper since her job was to protect DVa and not beat it. That thought changed as several other nulltrooper shadows appeared from the hole.

Brigitte cursed. Without her armor, she knew she was probably too light to shield bash and disorientate the omnic, perhaps even knock it back. However, if the nulltroopers up above came down and fired from behind the front one, she'd be at a serious disadvantage for being out of their range with her mace and having a durable shield that wouldn't last long. She mentally prepared herself as she marched on. She most likely would have to take a few hits.

Brigitte stepped into range as a second nulltrooper slammed down. As her barrier began to crack, she shifted all her weight into her shoulder, flexed until it was rock stiff, then pummeled forward. She had assumed her opponent would be smart enough to anticipate it and adapt, but luckily for her, it did no such thing. The center of her shield—the lion face—smashed against the trooper's gun, bending its arm. It stumbled for a second before regaining its footing. Brigitte turn on auto-pilot and automatically swung, as how she normally followed up. Big mistake. Her mace dragged across both of their heads as they each fired. She didn't look down, but her stomach and left-half of her chest felt like they were on fire. She hoped they literally weren't as she took another swing. The nulltroopers stepped back this time, pressing their backs against the wall.

As the third nulltrooper jumped down, she heard the door unluck from behind. "Brigitte!" DVa called out.

"Understood!" she yelled. She eyed the legs of the trooper in front of her. Before it could aim its gun, she bent down and swept at its leg. The burning sensation of her upper half hindered her strength, but she put just enough force in the sweep to trip one of its legs, forcing it off its footing. Then she leaped, shoulder-bashing it. It stumbled backward into the troopers behind as Brigitte made a 180 and sprinted down the corridor. Two shots were fired, both a miss and flaring pass her shoulders, as she dashed into the doorway, DVa slamming it shut behind her.

Brigitte breathed heavily as DVa murmured, "Checkpoint." Unlike the corridors, this hallway had nothing but white plaster on the walls and ceiling. At the end of it was another door with an old light flickering above it.

Brigitte put her mace in her shield hand and leaned against her knees. DVa leaned to the side of her, gently placing her hand on her back. "Are…are you…?"

"I've had worse, I'll be fine," she lied. In truth, she didn't know. She had burned herself in the past, but that was only when she tried to put out a smoldering pan (Reinhardt was a terrible cook). She felt her chest with her free hand. The fabric of her clothing had been burned away and her skin felt as if it was so badly chafed, it burned and bled. She couldn't see it well in the dim light, and she wasn't sure she wanted to. By Ogier the Dane. How did anybody fight without armor?

DVa went around to Brigitte's other side. She grabbed her free arm and pulled it around her neck. "Lean on me."

Without thinking, she did. She shifted her weight against the girl's slim body frame, feeling her muscles loosen. She could feel her body temperature rising. A fever, perhaps. "H-how… how…" Brigitte had difficulty thinking in her new situation. "How many more? How many more doors?"

"Four more," DVa said. "Relax. I'll take it from here."

She slightly nodded. She felt her own time slowing down. Reaching the next door felt like minutes when it was only a few seconds. As they reached better light, she realized her exposed skin was seared, a light red on the outer layer of the injuries and a blood red closer to the center. In fact, blood remnant around the center began to trickle out.

DVa made a disgusted face as she saw the injuries but reverted the look just as fast. "There should be med kits where we're going." It sounded like she was speaking to herself rather than Brigitte.

"It's just a flesh wound," Brigitte croaked. "If there isn't, it's not the end of the world."

But as DVa began reading the next code, the door behind them began to rattle with the sound of ricocheting bullets.


	21. Chapter 21

They shouldn't haven't been able to get through that door.

Brigitte could tell over the paint job that the door was made from inconel, a metal used for high-speed turbines and nuclear reactors. A nuclear bomb couldn't have melted it so easily nor should anything of high force be able to dent it well.

But as DVa was halfway done reading the code, the door violently creaked and a ray of light shimmered behind them. What kind of ammunition where those omnics loaded with?

DVa read faster. Brigitte was worried she'd stutter or misread something at her speed, but she tried not to think about it. In fact, she tried not to think about anything. Her wound throbbed and the air felt lighter. In her condition, there wasn't anything she could do, and that frustrated her. _Come on, DVa,_ she thought.

As the back door's hole spread open wider, the door in front of them unlocked. The pain in Brigitte's chest receded as the door propped open and DVa swung it outwards. She navigated Brigitte into the next hallway that looked exactly the same as they were in. As they moved on through, they could see a drill poke its way through the door's handle. DVa slammed the door shut, the sound of the omnics almost muffled to silence.

Luckily for them, the process repeated itself as they went through each coded door: DVa reading the codes and the omnics going through door after door, but DVa was moving at a faster rate. As they finally reached the arsenal, they couldn't hear the omnics at all.

The room was pitch black as the last door opened. DVa poked her head and looked around before moving her hand over a light switch to her left. As the door closed behind them and the dangling white lights turned on, the two were at a loss for words with their jaws dropped.

The cave was the size as one of the hangers from the bunkers. Endless worktables, tool kits, and sheets of metal surrounded different vehicles such as a tank, a helicopter, and something that looked like a wrecking ball. Weapons were everywhere—pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, and few others Brigitte had never seen before. The walls were made of earth except for the right, which had a garage door meters high labeled _TAIL_. To the left, the ground spiraled upwards like a slide for cars leading up to the ceiling, which was mainly composed of a massive trap door probably leading up to the surface.

Questions flooded into Brigitte's head. Why was all of this here? Had they had all of this during the attack, it was possible the mountain range could have been successfully defended. And what good were all these vehicles down below? Her logical conclusion was that these were experimental and classified, but what good was it to keep then beneath the ground? And the garage door labeled _TAIL…_ she had no idea for that.

Brigitte's head buzzed much more than she had wanted it to. She winced, holding her throbbing forehead. DVa gave her a worried glance before scanning the floor. "There, let's take that one." In front of them several meters away was one of the State's infamous Humvee, a multi-purpose armored car with small square windows, an open ceiling hatch creating access to a mounted turret, and numerous bolts drilled into the sides of its armor. The desert-camoed vehicle had its doors wide open, revealing there were only two front seats; the back was pure open space except for the elevated platform leading to the turret.

Brigitte didn't argue. She spotted several other vehicles that structurally looked as fast as race cars, but none of them had space, a mounted machine gun, or even protective walls for that matter. It would only take a stray bullet if they were unlucky enough if they chose anything else.

As they moseyed, Brigitte's body became dramatically heavier. With each step she wobbled more, any pain she had being amplified. She collapsed a few feet away from the driver's seat on the left of the car.

"Oh, no…" DVa muttered as she knelt down on one knee, with Brigitte's arm still wrapped around her. "Come on, Brig, we're right here. Just a few more steps, work with me."

Through all of her pain, she couldn't help but feel a ping of joy. _Brig?_

Brigitte breathed like there was no tomorrow, making her breaths as big as she could muster. Her head felt light. "I…I can't…it's…it's…" Then her entire body went limp. It was basically her body saying, _What the heck are you doing, brain?_ _You see I'm injured and you're putting me through_ this? _Nah, I'm taking the controls._ Every time she ordered herself to move a muscle, she didn't. She couldn't. It was basically paralysis in her head. The only difference was that she could speak. "I…physically…can't…anymore."

DVa glanced at the door they came from before examining Brigitte. "Time's almost up, though…damn it." She unwrapped Brigitte's arm, grabbing her shield and mace. She threw them through the back door of the car without care before flipping Brigitte onto her back. Then with the cutest grunts and moans Brigitte had ever heard, DVa wrapped her arms beneath her legs and neck before barely lifting her princess style. She would have wrapped her arms around her neck had she not been so weak, but this was fine.

Brigitte shouldn't have been happy in a situation where she was weakened beyond movement with omnics still possibly pursuing them, but for some reason, her brain was saying this was one of the greatest moments she would have. She held back a light laugh as she stared at DVa's strained face, bulging her cheeks as if she was storing air in them. Her arms weren't thick, but she felt safe in them, with her fingers curling up around Brigitte's thighs and chest. DVa wobbled like a drunkard around the front of the car to the passenger seat, muttering something about life's difficulty settings. As DVa stood in front of the seat, her grunt turned into a triumphant yell. She lobbed Brigitte into the dust-colored chair before bending down onto all fours, gasping. "Please tell me the keys are in there," she moaned.

Brigitte looked at the engine keyhole with, indeed, a key lobbed inside. "Yeah. There is."

"[Thank you]," she said in Korean. She slowly stood back up onto her feet. She checked the glove compartment to find the car manual, a tool kit, and a medical kit. The tables around the back of the car had a rocket launcher and two plasma pistols. She punched her fist into the air. "[Yes]," she muttered. "Let me get back to you." She closed the doors on the left side, gathering the weapons and putting them in the back.

And as she closed all of the door, hopping into the driver's seat, she could hear a muffled drill and robotic barking coming from the other side of the hallway door.


	22. Chapter 22

**Crazy how I predicted Busan to be apart of DVa's actual lore. Anyways, after seeing the "Shooting Star" short, several ideas came to me, some that would even change the ending I had planned out. I want to stay true to whatever image Blizzard has of the characters, so I had to replan some of the plot. No worries now, I got it all figured out. Now, moving on.**

Normally, Brigitte wouldn't have freaked out. She would have cursed and triggered her shield if it was in her hand and have prepared to fight, but she still felt like a ragdoll. It was all up to DVa.

And the first scare came when DVa turned the key and nothing started.

Both of their eyes went wide as the drill and barks continued. Brigitte tried to think through her pain, but the most useful thing she could think of to say was, "Again."

And again, it didn't start. Her chest pounded as DVa fluttered her fingers, cupping her hands as if holding a controller. "Wait a minute…ah, [damn it]." Then she started flicking different switches and pressing different buttons on the control panels around the wheel before trying the engine each time.

"Wha…?" Brigitte tried to ask.

"An engine algorithm," DVa explained as she pressed a few more buttons before trying the key with no luck. "In case vehicles are hijacked by hostiles, most vehicles have certain conditions they need to be in before start-up can happen. Like having the wheel cut all the way to the right, for example." She cut her wheels all the way before trying with no luck. She cut them the other way. No luck.

Brigitte barely managed to tilt her head to the left, watching the hallway door form bumps near its handle. "Door…"

"Door…" DVa muttered to herself. Then she snapped her fingers before kicking open her door. She dashed out and ran around the Humvee, opening all its doors just how they found it.

As DVa opened the passenger door, she gave Brigitte a small smile. "Good thinking. Let's hope this works." She hopped onto the edge of the doorway of the car, leaning across Brigitte's lap. When she did, Brigitte couldn't help but notice the red discoloring in the back of her suit. Nothing was ripped or torn, but spreading out from her spine seemed to be dried blood.

"DVa?" Brigitte mumbled, but it was almost a whisper. Not something that could be heard over the omnics punching a clean hole beneath the door handle and the engine coming to life.

"Aw, yeah!" She then leaned back to the door. Before closing it, she caught a look of Brigitte's face. She frowned. "What?"

"Uh…" But Brigitte couldn't say anything at all. She was too focused on the pain from her stomach to worry about her own facial expressions.

DVa scanned her before mouthing _Oh._ She grabbed the seatbelt dangling near the edge of the car and slid it down to the left of Brigitte's waist, finding the buckle and sliding it in. She checked the bottom waist to make sure it was secure. Then without a second thought, closed the door and sped to the back, grabbing a plasma pistol. She sped to the passenger without closing any other doors than the back ones.

As soon as she buckled in her seat belt, the door busted open. Several nulltroopers looked around the vehicles until they found theirs, with DVa cutting the wheels until they were straight and Brigitte being like a ragdoll. They locked their eyes on the Humvee while metallic wolves came barking at them. DVa gave the wolves a look of distaste and acknowledgement. "Think you can keep up with me?"

Those were the last words Brigitte wanted to hear.

DVa slammed on the gas, the wheels screeching and marking the metal floor until they got a grip and sped forward. All the doors slammed shut before the nearest wolf could hop in, forcing the wolf's leap to bang itsead against the reinforced metal. The wolves gave pursuit as she turned around other Humvees, almost tipping the car over, and drifting around a tank. Brigitte began saying her prayers to all of her family as she was sure DVa's driving would kill them before even getting to the ramp they were heading towards. Like, there were ok drivers who didn't use turn signals, crazy drivers who tailgate and speed in traffic, insane drivers that would make you think they would drive a bus on the street of Drottninggatan at full speed, ludicrous drivers known as soccer moms, and then there was this.

As they turned around a helicopter, the spiraling ramp to the second floor laid straight ahead of them, twisting left. The Humvee was fast—especially in DVa's hands—but the hounds were still on their tail, almost literally. A wolf barked, which sounded like sharp metal rapidly scraping against each other like quick swordplay, as it headbutted the back of the car.

If Brigitte could grab ahold of anything, she'd be doing it for dear life. The ramp was a sharp turn, one where the speed limit could've been 15 or 20 miles per hour. DVa was gunning it at almost 70. "Uh, DVa?" Brigitte cried, but again, she probably wasn't heard. If she wasn't louder than the massive beating in her chest, she doubt DVa would hear her. DVa grumbled as took her hands off the wheel (people, don't ever do this), using one hand to lower the driver's window and the other to grab the pistol left in the cupholder between them. Everything outside became louder as the rushing air roared, blowing DVa's long red-brown hair on her left side in many directions.

Then shortly before they reached the ramp, DVa made some maneuvers too quick for Brigitte to see in the corner of her eye. All she knew from looking dead ahead was the car began to drift to the right. The g-force cranked Brigitte's head towards DVa and window with the wolves barking in pursuit. They slowed down a bit as they hit the ramp, safely ascending. With one hand on the wheel and her head vigorously looking forward and to the left, DVa swapped hands so her pistol was in the left before aiming it with her arm stretched out. The pistol buzzed as the chamber glowed a light blue before letting out a charged-up particle shot. It hit one of the wolves dead on the head, stunning it hard enough for it to lose its balance. It tripped, breaking its legs, and spiraled to the side where it hit the wall of the ramp before disappearing from view.

Ok. So DVa was drifting a Humvee at full speed up a tight-squeezed ramp with one hand and shooting out the window with a pistol with her other hand while maintaining full control of the vehicle. Brigitte couldn't help but stare at DVa with the back of her head mostly towards her. Her heart still pounded like a drum, but she couldn't be sure if it was for being on death's doorstep anymore (A/N: Misattribution of Arousal/Suspension Bridge Effect).

One after another, the wolves fell. By the time they reached the top, there were no more chasing them. The second floor was completely cleared off, but only had half the space of the bottom floor. With the ceiling much closer, Brigitte noticed the cobwebs dangling like hammocks and orange age marks scattered around. A wire from a control panel hooked up to the door above them and she realized the platform could be elevated. As the Humvee met at the tip of the ramp, DVa threw her gun to the side, shifted her gears, turned the wheel, and slammed on the breaks. The car skidded in reverse until it made a complete stop, the front facing the ramp entrance.

DVa gasped, slumping back against her. She winced and leaned forward, caressing her back where the dried blood was. Then she looked around her seat.

"D-Dva," Brigitte said. "That…that was…"

"Hold that thought." She unbuckled her seatbelt before undoing Brigitte's and laid her down to the side, out of the window's view. Then she back up her seat far enough to have access to the turret hole in the center of the ceiling. She climbed up until Brigitte could only see her bottom half. She could hear the heavy cocking of the light machine gun as a patient silence followed. Almost a minute went by before Brigitte could hear metallic marching from the ramp. It last for only a second before DVa fired at will. Assult rifle gunshots echoed with the LMG, the Humvee clinked and shook, and the light outside rapidly flashed. Bullet shells rained down into the car like coins against a counter. Eventually, DVa stopped firing.

Everything was silent as DVa stepped down from the turret. She plumped back into her seat and pulled up. Then she lifted Brigitte's body straight up. At the entrance of the ramp was a small pile of nulltroopers with holes in them.

"So," DVa said. "You were saying something?"


	23. Chapter 23

Brigitte wasn't sure how to feel about what transpired. The way DVa had her attention on Brigitte was like I just single-handedly wiped out a section of omnic hostiles while doing the impossible, but I'd rather have heard what you were going to say. Brigitte would have been sitting in disbelief if she did what DVa just did, but apparently, that performance was something normal for her, like training. DVa eyed Brigitte as she struggled to think. "That was…amazing."

DVa shrugged. "Thanks. I've been through dozens of virtual reality combat simulations like that, so it was nothing. But never mind that, we need to patch you up."

She was right. Adrenaline had been going through her and dulling the pain, but now that the high-speed suicide ramp episode was over, the throbs and convulsions were coming back. In fact, the stench of her blood was starting to smell as strong as it looked bad. The sear on the left of her chest was smaller than her stomach, and since it couldn't bend or flex, it was only a mild pain. The ruby-red circle reached from the corner of her armpit to the corner of the top of her breast where it began to droop. But her stomach was starting to turn purple all around. Her belly button felt like it wasn't there anymore. She had to sit up straight unless she wanted a wave of agony taking over. With what little strength she had, now that she was resting, Brigitte lightly placed her hand over it, feeling a slight sting. She pulled it back as sticky clear fluids stretched out before collapsing onto her overalls.

DVa grimaced. She pulled down the glove compartment and took out the first aid kit. "You're going to have to guide me through this. I'm not entirely sure of what I'm doing."

Brigitte nodded. "First, hold on." She unbuckled her seatbelt, unstrapped the shoulder hook of her overalls, then slightly pulled up her tank top so her entire midriff was in view. She was glad that just sitting still for a tiny bit gave her a bit of strength, but she knew she had to keep the motions to a minimum. "Ok, here's what to do…"

She guided DVa through applying ointment and bandaging the burn. In a few minutes, the injury was patched up with several huge Band-Aids and cotton balls stretched against it. "Alright, now for the top one," DVa said. "Want me to remove the tank top for you?"

Brigitte's face reddened. "Ah, no. I think I got it." Her skin was becoming sensitive, being more precise with picking up heat and the suction around her stomach. She shouldn't have been self-conscious. She'd been nude in all sorts of places: bathing in public bathhouses and rivers, undressing in changing rooms with other girls, and even helped scrub elderly women when she helped out at a spa resort. Not once had she felt weird exposing any part of herself to another girl. But now…

She lifted her tank top up, using one arm to cover her breasts and the other to completely remove it. She kept it covered with the arm as DVa leaned closer. DVa raised an eyebrow at the arm, but didn't question it. As quickly as she patched up the stomach, she patched up the chest. "There."

Brigitte struggled to put the tank top back on until her chest was concealed again. Then she just sat in the chair, calmly breathing. The pain subsided a bit, but still ignored her like a headache. She was thankful for her luck, however. This was probably as good as it was going to get. "Thanks, DVa."

She nodded. "Now that that's done—"

Before DVa could start the engine, Brigitte interrupted, "Wait, wait, wait. What about your back?"

DVa froze for a moment. "My back?"

Brigitte felt annoyed. "Your back. It has dried blood on it."

DVa hesitated. "It's ok…really. Besides, every second counts." And before Brigitte could say another word, DVa turned the engine on.

Between the wheel and glove compartment were the usual car buttons: emergency flasher, defroster, AC, volume, and the radio. DVa turned the channel nob and increased the volume only to receive static. Then she turned it off.

"We're still too far under," DVa thought aloud. "And even if we do reach the surface, I think Jeong forgot about the EMDP (electromagnetic dome barrier). Let's hurry."

Brigitte decided to let the back injury go for now. She was concerned, but their priority was disabling the barrier. DVa made a 180 turn and drove up to the side of the platform's control panel like a drive through. She slightly unzipped her suit and pulled out the paper with codes on them crumbled around her neck. "Alright, let's see."

The control panel beeped as DVa punched in a code, it's buttons lighting green with each press. With the last one, all the buttons lit. The trapdoor above them screeched as levers and gears around it spun. The platform vibrated and emitted more of an electronical-strained sound as it slowly elevated. The door above them finally opened, letting in fresh air and sunlight.

DVa cursed as she looked around the edges, seeing the wildlife of grass and shrubs leaning over the edge in view. "Please don't let there be omnics."

Brigitte forgot to consider that. "Maybe I should try being gunner?"

DVa shook her head. "You need to rest, period. I'd be gunner, but if there are omnics surrounding us as we come out, we need to drive out instead of being flanked from multiple angles."

Eventually, the platform leveled with the top and they were completely outside. Nothing but the wildlife of brown dirt, red-and-green-leafed trees, and white rocks surrounded them along with hills. The platform was in its own steep valley, with a tunnel in front of them, light shining like a star from the other end. A breeze rolled in just as DVa began rolling up the window, and, by the Paladins, it felt sweet. DVa paused as the afternoon sun beamed down on the car and leaves rustled around them. She grinned and stopped rolling up the window. "It's like getting the bike in the old Pokémon games, like, finally I can go fast!" She glanced at Brigitte. "So, which way's Bunker 82?"

Brigitte looked around and scratched her head. "Well, first thing's first, go through the tunnel."

DVa floor the Humvee, forcing Brigitte well into her seat as they took off.


	24. Chapter 24

The mountain range had numerous dirt roads paved out for car usage that the military constructed: over hills, along mountains, and through both. However, most of them were either cluttered with rubble and omnic wreckage or severely damaged from blast craters. DVa drove as fast as the Humvee would allow without tipping over, but Brigitte's nerves were beginning to wreck her as she looked out the window. In the sky about 14 kilometers behind them was the fleet.

The four-dozen ships consisted of fighter jets or shuttles for infantry units except for the mother ship. That beauty was basically a flying battleship, about a kilometer wide with a gray and white color scheme, the grey shading in the hull and the main mast. Brigitte would've enjoyed the moment of seeing such well-crafted airships mobilized in a well-coordinated flight pattern—fighter jets in front of the Mother, shuttles in back—but the sight of it only gave her more anxiety as it got closer to entering the range's airspace. "Can't you go faster?"

"You think I wouldn't be if I could?" DVa yelled back over the rushing air through her window. She showed a worried expression, almost angered. Brigitte immediately felt terrible as she noticed how jittery her hands were whenever she made a sharp turn around a pile of nuts and bolts or slammed on the breaks and then gas whenever they passed a crater. They had sight of the fleet for about 20 minutes now, ever since they drove out of the tunnel. Not the friendliest reminder of their race against time.

"Sorry," Brigitte said. "We're almost there. It should be the next mountain, past this hill."

The road led them around the hill through a grove of trees. When the trees disappeared, all that was left in front of them was a turret atop of a steep mountain. The two had been prepared for it to be defended by omnics or something, but just like on their way here, they didn't see any. Unlike the other turrets that were based of papa's design, this one looked like a black satellite dish hit with a growth ray. Its platform spread out halfway down the mountain with stairs leading to its base. As they came within a kilometer of it, Brigitte could hear an electric buzzing similar to telephone poles.

"Do we have to go in to disable it?" DVa yelled.

"No!" Brigitte moved her chair all the way back and unbuckled her seat belt, eyeing the rocket launcher that looked similar to Pharah's. "Just get us within a quarter kilometer of it! There's an energy barrier that we have to pass through before we can damage it! If we can just break its feed horn or the rod sticking out below the dish, that should do it!"

DVa squinted around the mountain. "I don't see it!"

As the Humvee made a fork turn around a massive pile of destroyed omnics, a translucent blue barrier appeared in front of them. Brigitte slid out of her chair—paladins bless her strength had returned—and grabbed ahold of the rocket launcher. It was twice as heavy as her shield, which slid around in the back along with her mace, but it wasn't something her two arms couldn't lift. Torbjorn was heavier.

The Humvee hit the incline and began to elevate. The dirt road switched to asphalt and turned to the left, going up in a swirl. Once they made an entire loop and the wildlife around them was replaced by the platform, DVa slammed on the breaks. They skidded past the translucent barrier into a stop. Brigitte kicked open the back doors and hustled out, mounting the launcher on her shoulder and taking aim. Sunlight reflected into her eyes and almost blinded her, but the black paintjob of the dish wasn't so bad. When she was certain of the outcome, she planted her feet and pulled the trigger. A rocket launched out with a silent BOOM, leaving a trail of smoke as it traveled up. On impact of where the hook stuck out, breaking the rod and sending it down the dish in an explosion, Brigitte hopped back into the back of the car, shutting the doors. DVa was turning up the radio's volume as Brigitte scrambled back into her seat: "—of Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army. Order all Birds to retreat back to base. Abandon the mission."

"With all due respect, Commander Jeong," a middle-aged male voice spoke, "Greythroat has received explicit orders to complete the mission before—"

The comms on Jeong's end rustled until a heavy male voice spoke, "Colonial Tyson, this is General Harold of the Omnic Resistance Task Force (ORTF). Order all Birds to retreat back to base. Abandon the mission."

DVa turned the Humvee so the front faced the fleet. Tyson's voice could be heard hesitating before he responded, "Yes sir." The next moment, he spoke, "All Birds, turn around and set course to Phoenix, Arizona. I repeat, all birds—"

" _What_ in God's name is _that_!?" cried someone on the ship.

From their view atop of the mountain, Brigitte spotted a green light emitting from behind several mountains. Her heart ached as she put her hand to her mouth. No…

"All ships, split off from Greythroat now!" cried Tyson.

The green hue thickened as every ship began to curve away from the mother ship. When the light became opaque, a lady from the comms yelled, "Tell Jonathan I love him! Tell my son Jona—"

A green beam shot from the mountain range, instantly incinerating eighty percent of Greythroat and dozens of smaller ships in collateral damage. A second later, a massive KABOOM rattled Brigitte's ears. A massive breeze flew from the fleet's direction as the girls watched in horror. The two ends of the ship fell down in flames. The comms went crazy with cries of fear:

"Floor it, Bron, _floor it_!"

"How long until another one of those!?"

"Land the ship!"

Tears began to form in Brigitte's eyes as she recognized the voice of the last one: Reinhardt. She couldn't tell what ship that was from at all, but there was no mistaking his old, rugged voice of urgency.

"New contacts, coming in!"

Arising from the range were ten…black omnics with a twisting set of tails behind them. They were smaller, but faster than any of the ships (the omnics from DVa's "Shooting Star" Animation).

DVa drew in a sharp breath. Brigitte glanced to see her eyes as wide as they could, her hands quivering. They steadily rose to her head as she clamped her ears. "No…"

As the omnics split up, they all spun, each unleashing a rocket barrage. Shuttles exploded on rocket impact like fireworks of red and orange as the amount of yelling began from the comms to die down. The sky rained down flaming pieces of metal and parts as jets were turning to fight back. "Attack Squad Hera engaging!"

Seven fighter jets sped towards the omnics, firing ballistics and bullets. As the seven dashed through the omnics' position in the sky, three were struck down. The rest canceled their pursuit for the remaining fleet and turned, spreading out their tails into an 'X'. Then they dog-fought in a circular space, the jets slowly striking down one at a time.

When only three omnics remained, the jets entered an arrowhead position, with a single jet up front and the rest behind them at a right angle. They dove towards the three, which were flying around each other in a clump. "This should do it. Fire at wi—!"

"¡Apagando las—!" was the last thing heard before their comms went dead. A purple, translucent explosion went off around all the jets. They each fell like paper airplanes, twisting in the air as took a nose dive. The omnics flew down as explosions went off behind the mountains.

The surviving fleet consisted of only a dozen shuttles. They were now far from the range's airspace and were traveling back in the direction they came. The channel ruffled until Harold's voice came on: "General Harold to Goldstar, come in Goldstar."

An old woman's voice spoke, "This is Goldstar."

"Goldstar, why weren't protocol procedures implemented? We had no contact with you."

The voice hesitated. "I-I thought it was weird not to do so too, sir. But Colonial Tyson informed the fleet that he received a direct message from you to not stop the mission, no matter what."

"What?" Harold sounded enraged. "But I never gave such—"

"General Harold," a young female voice interrupted, "we've just received word from intel that the ORTF Main Communication Lines have been hacked. Several pilots have confirmed that the intel they received…"

The voice drowned out as DVa turned the volume nob all the way down. Her eyes seemed lifeless and filled with void, her movements like she was possessed. Her face was a pale shade.

They sat in silence, watching dozens of smoke trails rise from the sky like active volcanoes. The sunlight began to turn orange as the blue sky around them began to fade to a red-orange-brown. The smell slithered into the Humvee, almost forcing Brigitte to cough.

DVa switched the channel from 1 to 29 then turned the volume up again. "Commander Jeong, this is DVa of MEKA. Reporting in." Her tone was a solid monotone.

The line only had the commander's voice, who heavily sighed. "Good work disabling the barrier. Your next order…" he paused before giving another stressful sigh. Brigitte had her hands to her mouth the entire time. She had seen death during some of her adventures with Reinhardt, but what she saw was something entirely different. That wasn't an honorable fight. Brigitte slowly dropped her hands. "Commander Jeong, this is Brigitte Lindholm. Reinhardt…is he…"

"He's fine," he reported. "He's on a surviving ship. Even as we speak, he's raising hell on Lumberjack to land the the ship."

Brigitte should've felt a small amount of relief. She didn't. She was thankful her godfather survived that, but in the face of everything…

Commander gave one last sigh. "Pilot DVa, make your way to the crash-landing sites. Search for survivors."


	25. Chapter 25

The Humvee hummed on and off as DVa drove around most of the same omnic piles of metal and bolts, trees, and shrubs. They were silent as the sky fluctuated from hot red to amber. Anyone would've been convinced it was evening if they couldn't smell the smoke or feel the intense heat outside. Brigitte laid her head against the window glass, looking at all of the turrets and hidden bunker blast doors she could spot.

Brigitte thought she'd be angry or upset. Why in the world would the ORTF commence a full retake? If they knew she and DVa were still in the mountain range, a simple ship or two would've sufficed for a pickup. If they had planned on fighting as well, they should have sent scouts to check for enemy numbers and positions. And at the very least, they needed to start off small by establishing control of a small chunk, then work their way towards retaking the rest. It made no sense.

Perhaps it was the hacker. It'd probably be convincing to receive a message from a trusted source with hostile information and act accordingly, only to find out it was a trap. But what would the message have to say for them to believe it? That little to no omnics were garrisoned at the mountain range just after they bombarded it? If that was what they were told since Brigitte couldn't think of any other reason they'd go all-in, shouldn't the commanding officers have been skeptical of such information? Or perhaps the hacker was that good with his or her speech that whatever they said was downright believable.

Yet anger wasn't filling up inside her. It was sadness and sorrow. Everyone had acted correctly in each situation, yet lives were lost. This was defeat, by the hands of an enemy they knew nothing about except that he or she could get into the ORTF comms. Sure, if she met whoever was responsible, she'd bash and whip them, but not for the soldiers. Revenge wasn't honorable.

 _Soldiers fight for a cause,_ Reinhardt explained once. _To seek_ vengence _for a fallen comrade would imply they fought to kill their enemies, which is rarely ever right. No, true soldiers die protecting what they love._

She sighed and looked at DVa. Her head barely moved as she spun the wheel and hit the gas like she was a service omnic on autopilot. She didn't smile.

It was situations like these Brigitte was the worst in. She understood people mourned for lost ones, but how long was appropriate? Was she insensitive for trying to move on so quickly? Would it be unhealthy for DVa to be depressed for more than three days? Two days? A week?

Additionally, she knew there was more to it. Her eyes when she raised her hands to her head were the same as Reinhardt's when he had flashbacks: PTSD.

Brigitte wanted to know all about it—she believed she did a good job being Rein's psychiatrist—but would that be insensitive? DVa had told Brigitte about her home, but that was after Brigitte shared hers. She doubt that if even Brigitte herself suffered from PTSD that it'd be so simple as to say, _Hey! I'll tell you my traumatic experience if you tell me yours!_ No. Brigitte knew Reinhardt for years before the recall, the day he went into depth about Balderich. If DVa was ever to share it, they'd have to be best friends or more. It only worried Brigitte that if DVa saw something that would trigger a flash back, DVa's focus would be impaired, especially in the heat of a life-or-death moment.

But that still left Brigitte wondering _if_ and, if so, _when_ she should bring it up. God, she wished DVa was a machine.

DVa stopped the Humvee. Brigitte hadn't even realized where they were since the wreckages were still kilometers away. Then she noticed the massive hole in the middle of a grove of familiar trees. "Is this…?"

"Yeah," DVa replied, killing the engine and undoing her seat belt. "Let's hope your armor is around here."

As Brigitte stepped out of the van, she felt like she was being cooked alive. She could almost hear the flames around her as ash trickled onto her skin, smoke filling her nostrils. Brigitte's armor wasn't hard to spot. It shined the firelight from the sky off its plates, brightening the back sides of some trees like miniature disco balls that didn't move. She sighed with relief as she stepped forward, but as she knelt down to pick them up, she froze halfway. On the other side of her armor was a massive pit.

DVa held onto a stable branch of one of the grove trees as she leaned forward. Had there been pure sunlight, she might have been able to see the bottom. But it just looked like a bottomless earthly hole that could lead straight to middle of the planet.

Brigitte scooched all of her armor away before she sat in the shrubs beneath her, sliding and fitting her armor on one piece at a time. Besides the ash and a few water marks drizzled on top like food spices, every piece looked the same. She guessed that she was lucky enough that the bastions had zero interest in it. However, it only raised concern for her. What made the hole such a priority?

DVa bent down to grab a rock as Brigitte stood back up, fully fitted. Her muscles already began to wane from not being used to the weight, but she felt comfortable again, like she had finally dressed herself. DVa flicked the rock into the hole. After a few seconds, the muffled sound of rock hitting dirt sounded from far below.

Brigitte whistled. "Think they found whatever they were digging for?"

DVa simply shrugged. Brigitte frowned as DVa turned her back and started walking out of the grove. The silence felt awkward, even if she understood why. She quietly sighed and walked out too, tripping over a root on her way out from not lifting one of her feet high enough.

They drove quietly around hills and mountains, on and offroad. Brigitte could only check the pockets of her armor to comfortably pass the time. She pulled out the rolled up "Hero of My Storm 2" poster and Reinhardt's Overwatch medallion. Brigitte smiled as she unrolled the poster, observing the picture of DVa and the two beside her with the storm in the background. Reinhardt _would_ be into an adventure movie like this.

She noticed DVa glancing at the poster. She let out a smile before killing it as quickly. At least she smiled. That was good.

And the medallion. It was solid and heavy enough to be a paper weight. She turned it around, scrutinizing the small scratches on the back and front of the coin that fit her hand.

 _It's…a reminder,_ Reinhardt once said, _of all the mistakes I've made. It's ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them, and make sure you and your comrades never make the same mistake twice._

She gripped it tight before putting them both back into her armor.

After several minutes, they came across the wreckages. All the trees around them, dotted around the landscape, were lit on fire. Their canopies roared like a fireplace as smoke streamed out, making the sky almost as dark as night. The sky was no longer blue, but grey or darker. Parts of all the fighter jets were scrambled throughout a small valley, crashing streaks forced through the earth near each. Two were mostly intact, with their noses chipped off and scrambled around the bodies of the jets. One had the pilot still belted down to his seat, with an orange parachute spread out on the ground from the chair. The black suit had streaks of red across the stomach and arms. Its limbs dangled limply.

Over the hills on flat land were the scrap of the shuttles. The field consisted of mainly either piles of broken metal with gas fumes streaming from them or black blast crates scattered throughout. A chill went down Brigitte's spine as they came across one of the destroyed black omnics. Its tentacles laid around its smashed head like broken branches, its tips slithering away from it all. DVa's eyes quickly went wide before going back to normal. The Humvee jerked as she sped over one of the tentacles like a speed bump.

They finally stopped before another hole like from earlier. Brigitte looked around, now nervous about the flying omnics, but DVa quickly turned off the engine and stepped outside.

"Wait, what are…?" Brigitte unbuckled herself and rushed out the door, hurrying towards DVa lifelessly walking towards the hole. "Why did we get out?"

"Just to be safe," DVa answered. They stepped before the hole, a few feet from falling in. DVa took a bent sheet of steel next to her foot and threw it inside like a frisbee. They waited a few seconds longer compared to last time, but when they heard the sound, it wasn't what they were expecting: metal against metal.

Their eyes widened as a _DONG_ echoed below. They looked each other in the eye, but couldn't think after that. The ground beneath them rumbled.

DVa immediately lost her footing, falling onto her knees against the dirt while Brigitte shifted her armors weight to the center of her body. Her body vibrated like being given a massage from a fancy chair, but thought nothing of it as she noticed DVa sinking.

Brigitte dove down and grabbed DVa's hand as the ground cracked and completely gave in. The next moment, DVa was dangling by one hand as a massive pit had been formed beneath her. Brigitte expected there to be a floor of metal below DVa—maybe it was a secret bunker—but that wasn't it at all. The dirt shriveled down curved metal in the shape of scales. The sound of dirt falling presumed for a few seconds before it finally stopped with tiny rocks _tink_ ing down something.

Brigitte was too busy focusing her strength into keeping DVa from falling that she didn't notice what was revealed. With steady breathing, refusing to let the smoke choke her, she tugged on DVa's arm. However, DVa only starred beneath her, not trying to help herself. On her face was an expression Brigitte never thought DVa would have: absolute fear.

"D-Dva!" Brigitte yelled. "Help!"

But she didn't. She was too busy starring down. With a quick glance, Brigitte saw what she couldn't comprehend: an underground tunnel with a massive scaly structure in the middle. The metal walls were new with dim-lit lights around the curved metal in the shape of an armadillo, going through the tunnel and out of their vision.

"D-Dva?" Brigitte asked, her arms becoming strained.

But she didn't respond. DVa, scared and frozen, only muttered one thing as she starred down: "The omnic…monstrosity…"


	26. Chapter 26

There was no way. There had to be no way.

Brigitte didn't doubt DVa's credibility—her role in the Korean Army was specifically to suppress the monstrosity and its minions it would send to attack humanity—but Brigitte was certain the monstrosity was somewhere from the East China Sea to the west coast of the United States of America. At the very least, it devastated all of Hawaii's islands except the Big Island shortly before her garrison at the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, so it had to be in the North Pacific Ocean. In the _water_.

From that, the most logical conclusion was DVa was currently experiencing a flashback.

"DVa!" Brigitte called for the final time. "Please, snap out of it!"

But she continued to dangle like a ragdoll. If anything, her gripped loosened.

Brigitte tightened her grip, fearful of crushing DVa's hand. She wavered as she constantly repositioned her feet, trying to stabilize herself on the incline. After the longest three seconds, her feet planted themselves. _Ok,_ Brigitte thought, _here we go. And a ONE and a TWO and a THREE!_

Brigitte gambled all of her strength into the greatest tug she could manage. She pulled DVa like she was straight-up deadlifting a hundred-and-something pounds off the ground. She flicked her arms above her head, pulling DVa up to head height, above the ground level. Then she allowed herself to fall back, letting DVa's body collide with her. They fell to the ground, DVa on top of Brigitte, but they were safe.

They both coughed as DVa crawled onto all fours. For a moment, they locked eyes. DVa's hair tickled Brigitte's ears as she watched DVa's eyes looking around in tiny, rapid moments. Then she looked like the symbol of confusion. "Brigitte? Wha—?"

"I'll tell you later," Brigitte coughed, her chest tightening. "Reinhardt gets flashbacks, too. Zones out most of the time and has memory gaps. But c'mon, we should get back into the Humvee and find a safe place. Right now, the smoke's choking me."

And so they did that. Brigitte explained everything that happened as she drove this time. She didn't want to ask when her memory gap started to avoid possible embarrassment. DVa shuttered as she went over what she saw and called the monstrosity, but didn't show signs of another flashback.

The girls had found a small cave in the side of the mountain shaped as a blast crater. Every tree that they could see down the slope was either charred, burned to some degree, splintered, or completely combusted. The grass had more dark colors than its natural green hue, something Brigitte (and probably more so DVa) didn't want to be reminded of. But for now, it was the only choice they had. It was a few kilometers away from the hole into the monstrosity den, as far yet close to it they could risk being.

Brigitte parked the Humvee inside the crater, the mountain ceiling just barely tall enough for the turret not to be scathed. She sat in silence, wondering what to say. Since seeing the monstrosity (she still refused to believe it was _the_ monstrosity), DVa sat motionless, her eyes sometimes swimming around or vigorously vibrating in the center. She could easily notice the symptoms of PTSD thanks to Reinhardt, but that didn't mean she could do so much to help it. She noticed herself getting better with talking to DVa, but on a casual sense. With something as serious as what DVa was going through, she felt like she was back to square one: not knowing what to either say or do.

A few minutes of silence went by. Brigitte kept watch out the window, ready to either drive away or jump to the turret if something came. She prayed for neither to be the case since gas and ammunition was limited. And as the hours went by, so was their food. They needed to visit one of the bunkers soon.

When DVa finally moved, she raised one of her legs to her chest, hugging it. Starring straight out the window, she spoke, "'Overconfidence is a flimsy shield.'" She glanced at Brigitte to see if she was watching her before staring back out the front window. "It's one of the quotes I respect the most by Tekhartha Zenyatta, a member of the Shambali. I was never looking for fame in Korea through MEKA, but if found me anyways. And even though I didn't like it, I felt myself affected by it in various ways. One way was being too confident in my abilities.

"The first time I fought against the monstrosity, I did well. Kept my cool, was aware of my surroundings, covered for my allies. My friends. We were a good team. In that fight, which I was streaming, I managed to pull of some high-skilled and mechanical feats. When we returned, I was celebrated. My people believed I made the biggest difference in the fight. From then on, I was an idol. I was more as a beacon of hope than anything else. And I regret how much it got to me. So when I fought against the monstrosity the last time, I…"

DVa choked and looked away, blinking rapidly. Brigitte wanted to reach over and hug her, but she knew it wasn't the time. She had to let her finish.

DVa continued, "I…I was full or myself. Instead of covering for my friends, I pulled the trigger. Instead of using my defense matrix, I launched my missiles. So many times could I have protected my friends…but I chose to shoot instead. I thought if the people saw the omnics being destroyed, that would give them the greatest sense of hope. And secretly, I thought I could do it all. It was hard for me to regret my choices until one of my friends, Yuna, went down. Then Jae-Eun. Then Seung-Hwa. Then Kyung-Soo." She slowly put her hands to the side of her head as she said the names, as if hearing them from within. "I was the last one left against it. I barely won, but to fight it alone…was the most terrifying experience I've ever had."

She let out a huge sigh of depression. "Of course, the people let it go as a 'great' victory. Who wants to think about your military losing to the enemy? To think of foreign hostiles forcing you to completely change your life or die…assuming you didn't die during an invasion or an attack." She shook her head.

They were silent for another few minutes. The smoke in the sky was starting to thin out and drift away from the wreckage they couldn't see. The red-orange sunlight was slowly turning to normal. "Brigitte?" DVa asked. Brigitte turned her head towards DVa, who was still curled up against the passenger window. "I'm so thankful you came when my mecka was shot down, but…why did you do it?"

"Why?" Brigitte repeated.

DVa turned herself around, looking over her shoulder with one eye. It was glassy, as if tears were forming. "When we first met, it didn't seem like you knew of me at all. If anything, I seemed to be an annoyance."

Brigitte was so relieved to be given a reason to talk in depth. "Because I thought of you as a hero. Truth be told, the only way I knew of you was from Reinhardt and the poster he gave me. The 'Hero of My Storm 2.' I thought you were simply a poster girl, becoming famous from your figure or such. But on the day of the attack, you saved my life three times. Not only that, but you saved dozens of other people's lives."

DVa looked to the side, not looking fully convinced. Brigitte continued, "When I was on Bluejay and we were ascending for takeoff, I thought I was going to die. I think everyone on that ship did. But you came in like a shining stallion, straight out of the epic fantasies Reinhardt always told when I was a kid. To save our lives, even if it was your duty or such, was an act of heroism. You're the kind of hero I'm always striving to be—rescuing others without a second thought or thinking much of it. I don't know how you see our situation, but to fight alongside you is nothing but an honor. I jumped down without thinking about it because I knew from that brief time spam of the fight it wouldn't have felt right doing anything else. I wouldn't have _wanted_ to do anything else."

They locked eyes for several seconds. Finally, DVa gave a small smile. "Thanks."

Brigitte nodded before reaching for the car radio controls. "Now, let's see if Jeong knows what this 'monstrosity' is."


	27. Chapter 27

Brigitte switched the channel nob to 29 and turned the volume up. "This is Brigitte Lindholm, daughter of Torbjörn Lindholm of Overwatch. If anybody can hear me, please respond."

The comms on the other end was silent for a moment, then rustled. "This is Jeong, Commander of the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army. Brigitte, is Pilot DVa with you?"

"I'm here," DVa responded.

"What's your status?"

"Yellow. Fatigued, shocked, and running low on supplies."

"Hostiles nearby?"

"Unknown. Reconnaissance hasn't been performed."

He sighed. "Any survivors found?"

"Negative."

Brigitte spoke up, "But we did find something we wanted to ask you about."

"Found something?" he asked. "Something good, I hope."

"Well, that's the thing. We're not sure exactly _what_ it is. I thought maybe you would know. DVa recognized it the omnic monstrosity."

A long pause went by.

"You _do_ know something," Brigitte assumed.

"What _exactly_ did you two see and how?"

Brigitte explained exactly what they saw and how the mountain floor gave in as they were testing a dug omnic hole. When she finished, Jeong muttered something in Korean. "They must have found it."

"And what is _it?"_ Brigitte demanded. She was as patient as she could be, but she wasn't appreciative of this one-way flow of information.

Jeong muttered to himself some more. "I…I…" he hesitated. "I took an oath to keep that information confidential, but…"

"Jeong, you can tell us," DVa assured. "We'll just say the truth: we came across it searching for survivors and investigated it. That _is_ what we're going to do next if not."

Another moment of silence. "Stay connected. I'm going to seek authorization to share the information with you two. Please understand."

"Ok," Brigitte approved. "We'll wait."

The comms went completely silent on the other end. The two girls didn't talk; they just waited patiently, waiting until the comms were noisy. "Brigitte Lindholm and Pilot DVa, are you two still there?"

"Still here," Brigitte responded.

He sighed happily. "I have been authorized to tell you anything and everything about what you two saw. So, where do you two want to start?"

"With _what_ ," Brigitte suggested.

"Is it _the_ monstrosity?" DVa asled.

"No," Jeong began. "It's a replica of it.

Silence.

"I-I'm sorry," Brigitte said, "I think I heard that wrong. Can you repeat that one more time?"

"To say it simply, beneath the entire Sierra Nevada Mountain Range is a man-made replica of the omnic monstrosity."

Brigitte let those words sink in, playing them over in her head as they echoed. _"What?"_

DVa didn't look to be taking the information well, either. The brown in her eyes grew. "A…man-made…" Her voice croaked.

"It began after the second omnic monstrosity attack, a little before the recall" Jeong explained. "We won that fight, but at a heavy cost; too many resources were exhausted, too many structures were damaged, too many lives were lost. Even if the monstrosity attacked only every decade, we would eventually succumb to it in time. The Omnic Resistance Task Force wanted to find a way to permanently take it down. Numerous ideas were thrown out at the board meetings. One of them was 'fighting fire with fire'—creating a monstrosity of our own.

"Many representatives of Asian countries vetoed the idea, especially Korea and Japan as we've fought it head on before, but everybody else favored it above all the other suggested ideas. So since then, it's been under construction."

"Then the mountain turrets along the range…" Brigitte said.

"They were never meant for the original monstrosity; they were developed as a safety precaution, in case something went wrong. Later did we realize how inefficient they would be for our cause, since their firepower isn't too strong, but they did provide a legitimate excuse for the public to keep their distance."

Brigitte zoned out, pushing her fingertips against her temples. That explained the full retake instead of a simple rescue mission; to lose your ace would affect morale and any real offensive value the ORTF had. They needed to regain control of it as soon as possible. But after what happened…

Brigitte almost didn't realize DVa slowly moving her hands to her head. Her eyes were beginning to move rapidly again. "The omnic…"

"DVa, no!" Without thinking, Brigitte shot out and grabbed one of her hands, their gloves chafing together. Brigitte squeezed, and her eyes began to slow down. She glanced at Brigitte, her skin receding from the pale color it was turning.

"DVa, you're safe," Brigitte assured. "You're here with me. We're in the mountains. We're all right."

Her hands were trembling. She her hand tighter. "You're right. You're right." She took a huge breath. "I'm…I'm ok."

Brigitte nodded, but she didn't let go. She assumed DVa would, be she didn't either. They sat there holding hands as DVa asked, "H-how accurate to the actual monstrosity is it?"

"I honestly have no idea," Jeong admitted. "ORTF has been working closely with the Vishkar Company in its development, so the plans of its construction are known mainly to them and the generals. I can at least say, however, that from head to toe, it stretches from Fredonyer Pass to Tehachapi Pass. I'm not sure where those locations are, exactly."

That was the entire mountain range, roughly 640 kilometers. Two monstrosities would outstretch the entire length of California, north to south. Brigitte shivered. She glanced at DVa without turning her head. Having to fight such a gargantum creature head on and alone…well, even Brigitte might've gotten PTSD.

"The replica has been built as fast as it has, thanks to Vishkar's hard-light technology," Jeong continued. "All that's left is to program the A.I. to control it; the physical part of it is done."

A thought came to Brigitte. Her eyes bulged. She tried not to believe it. She didn't want to. But assuming it was true, it would explain a lot more things as well.

"Commander Jeong, sir?" Brigitte tried not to sound fretted. "Exactly _where_ are we within the mountain range?"

"Your coordinates say you're five miles north of Black Mountain, close to Kings Canyon. Why do you ask?"

She recalled the massive door labeled "TAIL" within the underground arsenal. And as of lately, there were hardly any omnics in the area. Maybe because they didn't need to be here. They were probably heading north.

"Their giant, mobile fortress, or whatever you want to call it," Brigitte said, "probably has an A.I. controlling it. What if that A.I. was powerful enough to control the replica?"

The sky began to darken outside as evening came. Their main source of light was now from the green light emitting from the car radio. Brigitte could see DVa's facial expression of deep thought, but not too far out the window.

"A payload?" DVa finally thought aloud.

Brigitte frowned. "Payload?"

"A military term; it's usually a bomb load for delivery at a targeted destination," DVa explained. She frowned in turn. "It'd explain why there's no mass destruction to it, as far as we've seen. If they wanted to get rid of it, they could've easily started down here. So they're keeping it intact in hopes of capturing it and using it to their…[damn]…" She held Brigitte's hand tighter. It was comforting, even in their situation of gloom.

"We can't let that happen," Jeong finally said. "I'll contact the generals about this theory. Perhaps they've already thought of it, but just to be certain. Pilot DVa, when you're safe and able to, perform reconnaissance of your area. Report any omnic numbers within a mile radius of your area when you do. Once it becomes safe enough, I'll _personally_ send a pickup. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," DVa responded.

"We're going to stop the payload." And with that, the channel went silent.


	28. Chapter 28

They decided to do the recon in the morning. Brigitte wasn't fatigued since she didn't need to push herself physically, but she didn't want to see or hear any more bad things. She was ready for the day to end.

Brigitte began driving with the headlights on around the mountain they had parked under, driving with one hand. DVa was still holding her other hand, starring off at her feet. The aroma of ash and smoke faded as the car hummed over charred grass and burnt trees near the mountains summit. She soon parked along a tree before a steel door with a faded 13 on it. She turned to DVa, still gazing down. Brigitte wanted to say something as she had just done, but her words were failing her now. _Are you ok?_ Would be dumb because _no,_ she was _not_ okay. To bring up anything from her compliment before seemed tactless, and try and think of a feel-good quote didn't feel right. So she thought of the last thing she could think of. "Ready?"

DVa slowly nodded. She let go off Brigitte's hand, retrieved her plasma pistol from the car's side, and opened her door without a word. Brigitte sighed as she followed her example. She had to partially squint in the dark to see, but everything within arm's length was visible. They headed to the back and opened the door, Brigitte retrieving her mace and shield. DVa grabbed the second plasma pistol, holding one in each hand. Brigitte shut the doors.

They stepped up to the steel bunker door. She still paid attention for any strange sounds or smells, but doubted anything would happen. There were no omnics on their way up the mountain to speak of. And as she turned to get a glimpse of the night scenery—a few stars in the sky twinkling through fluctuating smoke in the air like the sun shining through water, a few crickets chirping around the untouched patches of grass, and a night breeze softly traveling by—she felt as relaxed as she ever had since arriving. _We deserve a rest,_ she thought. Then she forced the door open, the floor's coating scraping off as she pushed her shoulder into it.

Light was something to be desired. That was obvious since it was nighttime—the sun had completely sunk beneath the horizon—but she forgot how pitch black the halls were. The nostalgic smell of metal surrounding Brigitte appeared as DVa shut the door shut. The memories of the OR15 in the cafeteria and the attack while in Bunker 29 came to her. Brigitte triggered her shield, the blue light lightly illuminating the front of her armor and what was immediately in front of her. She held it high as she recognized the clinks of DVa arming the plasma pistols. Then they stepped on. Step by step.

As they turned their third corner, DVa whispered, "I'm getting a feel of the layout. We're looking for the kitchen again, right?"

"Yeah," Brigitte agreed. "Same plan as before—find a safe space and wait."

DVa nodded. "Should be on the other side of the walls, hopefully."

They stepped around the corner. The new hallway led all the way down to a door…with a yellow light glimmering from the cracks beneath it.

They froze. Brigitte slowly glanced up at DVa, deactivating her shield. The light about ten meters down illuminated the few broken pipes along the walls, shut doors inside the corridor, and DVa's thinking brown eyes. She narrowed them, squinting. Then she nodded, twirling her pistols in her hand like a cowboy.

They tiptoed as silent as metal armor and a pilot suit could be to the door's front. Brigitte tested the handle, bewildered to find it unlocked. She glanced at DVa, who nodded again. Things would be different, now that DVa could fight from range. "One…" Brigitte whispered, "two…three!"

Brigitte slammed the door open and propped her shield, DVa dual-aiming behind it. The light, although not very bright, still partially blinded them. In a second, they scanned the cafeteria. The design was similar to Bunker 29's, with long tables and benches lined together with the kitchen in the back. The only difference was instead of an OR15, there was a humanoid omnic, which looked like Zenyatta but with a white suit and green lights emitting from its eyes, sitting on the last bench closest to the kitchen. It was clearly on and conscious, but it didn't move its cupped hands resting on the table.

DVa frowned, dropping her pistols. She walked around the kneeling Brigitte, who looked frantic as she walked past her. "DVa, what are you—!"

"It's ok," she assured. "It's unarmed."

Brigitte wanted to ask how she knew, but as hard as it was in the moment, she trusted her. Brigitte stood up and hurried behind DVa, who walked casually down the row to the omnic. They turned into the row opposite of the table and stopped in front of it. Brigitte was still ready to mount on it and introduce it to her mace if tried anything funny.

"So," it spoke in a deep, robotic tone, "Talon finally finds me, after all of my careful planning. I'll admit I'm impressed." It looked up, its green eyes pouring into DVa's. "I didn't expect you to discover me this soon."

Brigitte's mouth went dry. Anyone who knew Overwatch knew Talon, the organization of mixed criminals that spurred global trouble for various reasons. But why did it think they were with them?

DVa's face asked the same question. "Um, excuse me. What do you mean?"

It laughed bitterly. "A rhetorical question, I presume? What an odd sense of humor. But before you two kill me, I'd like to know this."

His eyes shifted between the two of them. "Which one of you two is "Shadow?" Or do you prefer it as I've heard it, Sombra?"


	29. Chapter 29

****** Finals! **** doing an essay every week! Augh! Sorry for the hiatus! I pray I can update much more often since school is out (for now)! Now we move onward!**

Brigitte and DVa looked at each other. Nothing but questions flooded Brigitte's head as she looked back at the omnic. The perfectly lengthened jacket with a handkerchief in its pocket and flawless trousers with dress shoes smelt of cigarettes. She could tell by having a close look at omnics about how old they are, but its polished silver head reflecting the ceiling lights and frictionless motion of its breathing (omnics didn't require air as far as she knew, but their bodies still mimicked humans; she didn't know why) was telling her it was born yesterday, if not today, and that couldn't have been right. Omnics couldn't smoke either, but the scent was distinct, even from the ash smoke outside. It couldn't have been outside recently or else ash would've peppered its clothes.

Brigitte was drawing every blank.

"Uh, no. There's a misunderstanding happening," DVa said. "We're not with Talon. We're…well, _I'm_ associated with the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army, MEKA. I'm DVa. And this is…" DVa looked at Brigitte, holding out the sentence, as the omnic followed her gaze.

Brigitte hesitated. Normally, she would've introduced herself without worry to a listening stranger, but he was too mysterious. For all she knew, this was a trap. Brigitte trusted DVa, but to follow her lead at the moment felt…well, misleading. She knew DVa respected the Shambali and this omnic looked related. Perhaps her bias was throwing her caution to the wind?

But eventually, Brigitte went along. "I'm Brigitte, an adventurer."

She kept it as simple as that.

They turned to the omnic, who was lowering its gaze. "Forgive me, but I cannot trust anyone anymore. Such is the price of leaving the organization; I'm sure you both know." It closed its eyes and formed a hand symbol in the air, seeming to meditate. "I will go down with dignity. At least spare me that much. Now, kill me or release me, but do not waste my time trying to fool me."

Brigitte and DVa looked at each other. It didn't believe them. For all it knew, they were pranking it like, _Sike! We_ are _with Talon! Good night!_

One option was to leave it be. Neither her nor DVa were about to kill an omnic in cold blood (or metal. Whatever.) and move on with their lives like it didn't matter. It wasn't preventing them from moving on to the kitchen, grabbing some food, and bouncing out back to the Humvee. Sure, it'd probably be confused as to why they left it alive if he sincerely believed they were reapers, but the misunderstanding wasn't their fault.

Another option was to try and convince it again that they weren't with Talon. Not that she minded the misunderstanding too much since they weren't obligated to hurt it. Plus, they had no idea who it was they were talking to. It was on Talon's blacklist; Brigitte would buy that idea. Therefore, by having a common enemy, they were borderline strangers and allies. But why would it be wanted?

Brigitte sighed. She felt her armor, opening one of its pockets and removing Reinhardt's Overwatch medallion. She placed it on the table in front of it, the weighted metal clinking as it set itself flat. The omnic's squinting eyes colored it and the surrounding space a shade of lime as it squinted.

"I'm Brigitte Lindholm, daughter of Torbjörn Lindholm of Overwatch. Reinhardt Wilhelm of Overwatch is my godfather. Long story short, DVa and I were left behind during an evacuation days ago, and we've been surviving amongst the bunkers ever since. We only came here to resupply, hoping there's food and other essentials here."

If it didn't believe her now, Brigitte wasn't going to try again. The medallion was like the badge of a law enforcement officer for those who recognized it and obeyed the laws. If he didn't recognize the symbol, it wouldn't know them at all.

DVa gave Brigitte a warm smile before facing the omnic.

It grabbed its edges with its small, plated fingers and held it closer to its face. It examined the front and back before reexamining the two girls. Then he put the medal down, sliding it back to Brigitte. "'Trust is a two-way street,' or so the saying goes. Therefore, allow me to introduce myself." It stood by pushing its hands up against the table. "I am Zynx, a former member of Talon. And we must hide. At least before—"

"Apagando las luces," a Hispanic-accented voice spoke behind them.

Brigitte turned, but not before both the lights completely dying or Zynx could finish. Brigitte was effectively blind, even if the shield over her arm passively provided small light like a glow stick. "Before _she_ arrives." The lights from the omnic's eyes glowed like her shield; showing it was there as the blur of light suggested it was moving its head in search.

Brigitte's flung her mace into her shield hand and reached out for DVa's. She felt the rough threading of her suit and smooth spots of her skin through holes in her arm sleeve. She could feel DVa flick her wrist before the sound of her gun clatter against the table. Then she could feel Dva's hand in her own, both of them gripping hard. Not exactly a combat-ready move, but Brigitte needed to know they were together in case something happened.

"And _you_ must be Sombra," Zynx concluded aloud.

"Si," the voice agreed. Brigitte couldn't pick up where she was coming from. "Hola."


	30. Chapter 30

Although her other senses were sharpening, Brigitte knew not having sight of her surroundings was a huge disadvantage. She assumed this "Sombra" had some form of dark vision, so her knowing the difference between where a bench was compared to her enemy's weapon and Brigitte only knowing DVa was beside her was discomforting.

Brigitte tried to remember the path to the light switch. Every second taking a step was another second Sombra could be firing a gun, assuming she had one. To dash for it now would be leaving Zynx and DVa in peril, but how was staying by their side any less of a risk? She couldn't tell where Sombra was and therefore didn't know where to put up her shield. Flipping the light switch was priority, but how to do it…

"Who is Sombra?" DVa asked. She felt DVa slowly brush her body against hers, slightly pushing her to the center aisle. _Move._

"She's a notorious hacker." Metal clanked against the floor and Zynx's eyes floated towards their direction.

"Ooh, I can't _stand_ you hackers!" DVa chided. Brigitte waved her hand all around to feel nothing but air. She and DVa were in the aisle. "You give those of us gamers with skill a bad name!"

An uncomfortable silence went by before Sombra chided, "You know that's not the kind of hacking I do, right?"

"She's responsible for cyberattacks on organizations, governments, and corporations," Zynx explained. "Her latest accomplishment was uncovering the conspiracy with LumériCo's CEO not too long ago via emails and breaches. Or so I've heard."

Sombra chuckled. "Portero had it coming. And you actually _do_ sound like Maximilien when you speak like that. Gabe wasn't wrong."

The three of them were closely together now. She doubted Sombra didn't know about it, so her lack of commands or a violent tone worried her. Either she was very carefree about it as they were probably somehow playing into her hands by doing so or violence wasn't her objective. She doubted the latter after meeting Zynx.

"LumériCo?" Brigitte could tell from DVa's tone that she was frowning. "But in that case…"

"You helped out the urchins of Mexico," Brigitte concluded. "But you're with Talon."

Sombra laughed. "I like you two. Brigitte. Hana. I hope we can be amigas."

They both paused, but kept moving. DVa was a world idol as far as Reinhardt knew, so Sombra knowing her name and face wasn't a surprise. And perhaps Sombra was behind them secretly when she introduced herself to Zynx. But the way she said their names…it gave her an uncomfortable feeling.

"Is Talon _evil_?" Sombra continued. "And if so, _all_ the time? To believe that would be to believe Overwatch is good all the time. And we both know that isn't true, Brigitte."

Brigitte clenched her fist. "Reinhardt told me Overwatch does what is necessary for the common good. Unlike…" She was going to retort _unlike you,_ but she just learned about one of her accomplishments. "…unlike Talon."

Sombra chuckled. "You know, I've seen Reinhardt's Overwatch file."

Brigitte froze. She could feel DVa tugging on her hand to move, but she couldn't. They must've at least been halfway to the switch, but Brigitte's body felt petrified. "What are you getting at?

"I wonder if he's really told you the truth about his retirement."

Her heart pounded. She didn't want to listen anymore. Reinhardt was generous and honorable, loving and helpful. He's made a few mistakes in his past, but everyone has. She didn't want to believe any implementation that Reinhardt might not have been one of the four. But even so, images of Reinhardt frowning, blinking, and turning his head away whenever she asked came to her. Brigitte was loathed to admit it, but there was a ring of truth in that statement.

"Do you truly believe that Reinhardt Wilhelm, an iconic man who gave _everything_ for Overwatch, would just simply be pushed out all of a sudden for no reason?" She paused. "No, they don't dismiss agents for petty reasons. Moira was discharged for "unethical" experimentation. Documents reveal Gabriel would've been discharged for killing Antonio if not for his "death" in Switzerland. And Reinhardt…well, you wouldn't want to know."

"Brigitte?" She could feel DVa squeeze her hand some more. Any harder and her knuckles would've been hurting. "What is she talking about?"

"You're asking the wrong person, Hana," Sombra said. "Hey, you don't mind if I call you Hana, do you?"

"DVa."

"Relájate (You relax)! I was only asking. Yeesh."

Brigitte clenched her free fist and kept on moving with DVa. She could feel Zynx pushing her back. From the audio of their voices, they were near the corner. The best position for Brigitte to guard. "And why should I believe that what you imply is true?"

"As supposed to Reinhardt telling you anything? One of us hasn't lied to you…or withheld the entire truth of an issue, for that matter. Need I say more?"

Brigitte's hand touched the wall. From the audio, the door and light switch was behind them. They moved back steadily, but there was no way Sombra didn't know this. So her fear grew as Sombra spoke, "The truth is often ugly. Believe me; I've almost seen them all. Nobody wants to tell the whole of it. Just the good parts, unlike me. Like how the entire bunker's electrical power is neutralized."

Brigitte felt the switch and she flipped it on, but the lights remained off.

DVa cursed as Zynx exclaimed, "Let them go. It's me you want."

"You are," Sombra agreed. "But perhaps you'll all die anyway to my amiguitas (little friends)."

As though on cue, the ceiling shifted. Small tremors rocked the vibrating walls before they stopped. A deep, truck-like hum came from above.

"Oh, and by the way," Sombra said. "I may have sent a false message to your friend Jeong that the vicinity is clear of hostiles. God forbid that the birdy flying down meets my friends, too."


	31. Chapter 31

Brigitte was wanting to meet Sombra's "little" friends outside, not crashing through the roof.

Just as Sombra finished speaking, the ceiling shifted again before cracking, which sounded like very violent bubble-wrap protectors used in fragile packages. Then with everything shaking, parts of the ceiling exploded. Rubble and a waterfall of dirt and grains poured somewhere in front of Brigitte's feet as she looked up. Just as Brigitte's shield glowed blue, parts of the omnic "Squid(s)" (as she called it) with two antennas glowed red: a hexagon crystal down the center of its rectangular head, a gel-filled orb beneath it, and the inner-skin of its four tentacles.

She instantly recognized them as the ones fighting the fighter jets earlier today.

DVa screamed as she pulled Brigitte and Zynx into the hallway, slamming the door. "Run straight!"

Brigitte did on instinct just before the door exploded behind them. Brigitte turned, dodged DVa running past her, letting go of her hand, and activated her shield to block rubble flying like bullets before turning to run again. The echoes of their running made the area more "visible"; she couldn't tell where small pipes were, but she could definitely tell if she was at least about to run into a wall. With that, she turned right as the hall filled with a dark red hue and the release of rockets.

The rockets exploded five feet behind her. Enough heat and pressure pushed against her back for her to lose her footing. She stumbled and fell, her armor sliding against the floor with screeches. She rushed to her feet, and noticed something: she was suffering from exhaustion. As she unconsciously felt how long it took for her to stand, her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten since this morning—before reaching Bunker 1—and her muscles were paying the price. Her limbs now felt like they were moving in quicksand. She could sense her strides shortening as she made another sharp turn before the hall turned red. Her breaths were heavy. Her body felt like it was in a nightmare; she wanted to move normally, but she barely did.

She tried to stay focus on surviving. They made another turn—into a dead end.

Brigitte was caught off guard. She bumped into DVa's back. DVa screamed as she buckled, reaching her arms to feel her back.

"DVa!" Brigitte gasped. "What's wr—"

As Brigitte reached down, she felt what was wrong. Even through her gloves, she could feel the moisture of blood. DVa yelp before breathing heavily. Brigitte shined her shield over to reveal her entire backside red, the center darker then the outer edges. "DVa…"

"The doors," Zynx exclaimed. There were two doors each on both sides of them, the ones adjacent to her with the gender restroom plaques. Brigitte could hear the squids clanking behind them, their tentacles dragging against the walls.

Gambling all of her strength, she shoulder-bashed the restrooms as Zynx tried the others. The women's held shut, perhaps bruising her elbow. But as she bashed the men's, the door handle jerked down before swinging inward.

Brigitte grab DVa by the waist and dived into the men's with DVa on top, chest to chest. Zynx rushed in and closed the door behind himself, blocking out the new red hue taking color outside the walls.

They were dead silent in the dark as the squids clanked and thumped outside. Every heartbeat was hard enough to hurt her chest, loud enough to think a bomb was in her. She could feel DVa's hands all over her upper body, getting a feel of where was what. She could smell grime on the cold tiles beneath her. The sounds grew until the door creaked and groaned, but they still remained silent.

After a moment of spontaneous sounds of metal against metal, they receded. The next moment, the only sound was a drop of water hitting marble every few seconds.

Brigtte and DVa gasped, their heads a few inches away. DVa's silky hair caressed Brigitte's cheeks. She could feel DVa's legs against her thighs in the distinct all-fours position as she moved them, getting off of her. Then she felt their hands coming together as DVa laid flat on her chest.

"They might be back," Zynx said. Brigitte didn't want to be reminded of that, but she knew she had to keep that in mind. Even though they both were in hazardous conditions, they still eventually had to move. If not for being found, then for in case Sombra was right; anything less than three jets coming their way would be destroyed.

Brigitte forced herself into a crouch, in spite of her body's protest. All she wanted to do was relax for a little bit. More accurately, she wanted to sleep as much as she needed it.

 _Move onward,_ Brigitte pushed herself. _Not safe yet._

Brigitte lifted her shield right above DVa's back for light. She felt for the zipper beneath her hair and slowly pulled down when she found it. She remembered how the injury looked when she first saw it in Bunker 29. If it was as if someone spilt a bucket of purple paint on her back from her shoulder blade to her hip, now, it was as if someone spilt dark red instead. A small steam of blood covered her spine as the rest, dry and wet, coated her back.

Brigitte covered her mouth as Zynx said, "That's fatal. You may die if you lose much more."

"Yeah…" DVa murmured.

"DVa…" Brigitte's heart continued to pound. "We could've _patched_ this!"

Brigitte's sudden shout startled herself. She covered her mouth again as her echoes faded. She didn't want to feel angry with DVa, but it was _this_ bad. And she held it in.

"It was healing well," DVa said, "until you were injured by the null troopers. The bruise turned into the wound when I struggled to carry you. Time spent trying to stop the retake from the ORTF was more important than my back, so I never worried about it. But as we ran just now, I moved my shoulder a bad way and…" she winced.

Zynx was right. DVa couldn't move until it was patched up, or she risked death. Brigitte's movement speed in general must've been halved at least, so encountering any squids while in the halls would be death. They couldn't stay or possibly risk the death of their rescuers; they had to be on the offensive. And for all she knew, Sombra was still in the bunker somewhere. Any one of them encountering her alone could've been death, especially for Zynx.

A tear trickled down her cheek. "Reinhardt," she lightly cried, "what do I do?"


	32. Chapter 32

"Have you ever thought of giving up?"

Eight-year old Brigitte sat next to Reinhard on the wooden porch steps of the Lindholm mountain cabin. A dirt road marked with black tire marks weaved through dozens of trees in front of them. She leaned back with her hands behind her, her yellow flower dress wrinkled and smudged with flecks of oil and mud. Although it was summer, the fresh air chilled her skin, making goosebumps appear with every breeze.

Reinhardt chuckled. He wore a lumberjack's outfit: high black boots and jean overalls with a black-red checkered long-sleeve. Only a few strands of hair were still blond amongst his white turf. He gazed off at the canopies, watching a bird in its nest chirp while snuggling into its straw bowl of a home. "You're going to have to be more specific. If you mean in the heat of combat, then never! I fight on, even if it must mean to my last breath."

"No, like on a goal. Something big." Brigitte frowned as she starred at her feet. "The armor for Winter never seems to fit when I try it on her."

Reinhardt laughed. "Your cat turns into water whenever it wants! If it doesn't want armor, I don't think it'll ever fit."

Brigitte considered that, her heart aching. She had drawn several pictures of Winter in armor with herself on top, riding her like a mount. The thought of not being able to accomplish it after a month of work lead to her eyes watering.

"Eh, that's not what I meant to say," he quickly added as he noticed Brigitte's eyes and cheeks becoming puffy. He cleared his throat. "I used to think of giving up quite often, before I served under Balderich. When there was open recruitment for being a crusader years ago, I applied dozens of times. My body was strong and hardy, but before a crusader could go onto the field, he had to pass a written exam. And the questions on it always withered my confidence."

"What were they?" Brigitte sniffled. She rubbed her eyes before focusing back onto the giant man.

"Situational questions, I guess you'd call them. 'You're stationed alone at a lighthouse at night. Your orders are not to leave no matter what. One night during your watch, you notice another crusader on land below you bleeding out. You know you can treat him with the medical supplies at the top of the lighthouse and it doesn't seem like he can get to you by himself. However, you're also expecting a cargo ship to arrive at any time, and it can be perilous for them to dock without you guiding them. What do you do?' Those sorts of questions.

"The trainers never told us which answers were approved or not approved. Only whether we failed or not. And for me, I failed it over and over." Reinhardt sighed. "After the fifth time, I was ready to give up. I didn't understand why I was failing. They told me it was something I had to figure out myself or it'd have no meaning. As I was leaving with my mind made up to quit, I met Balderich for the first time. Bumped it him and fell over on my way out the test room."

He paused, his gaze trailing off. "He knew I was frustrated, so he talked to me after having a conversation with a trainer. When he understood my problem, he gave me some tips."

Brigitte scratched her head. "So he basically gave you the answers? He helped you cheat?"

Reinhardt bellowed, which made Brigitte's cheeks rosy red. "What? What did I say?"

"Cheat!" He slapped his knee. "Ah, the words of a young one. No, he didn't tell me any answers. He knew of the test, but didn't know a single question on it. What he told me was some advice. Advice that could be applied to a broad amount of situations. And, well, I didn't pass the next two times, but each time I failed, I remembered his advice. On the third try afterwards—"

"So your eight try?" Brigitte asked.

Reinhardt shot her a scowl. " _Third try afterwards,_ I finally passed. So since then, I've had many other times where I felt like giving up, but each time, I remembered his words. And with each time, I tried again."

"What were they?" Brigitte didn't realize her body was hopping up and down as she sat like a jackhammer.

Reinhardt gave her his signature smile, with most of his teeth showing with the biggest grin he could make.

*.*.*

Brigitte rubbed the tears from her eyes. She breathed in, and out. In, and out. Zynx watched Brigitte stand to her feet, her panicked face turned calm in just a few seconds.

 _Know every possible objective. Sometimes, there are other priorities that can be settled and are more beneficial for a given situation. Time-pressing ones tend to cover up others that make the original goal objective._

"Let's recap," Brigitte said. "Our goal right now is to destroy the squids in order to potentially save the lives of whoever is coming to get us."

"Um, yes," Zynx agreed.

"With none of us dying. Not to rest if we can or to patch up DVa, but to destroy them. But if we can rest or patch up DVa without dying or missing a chance to destoy the squids, then we do that. But if we can find a way to figure out if help _is_ coming, we might not need to destroy them after all."

DVa coughed. "B-Brigitte? Wha…?"

"We're assuming what Sombra said is true, and unless we know it isn't, we have to. But if we can somehow find out that she's lying, on the assumption she is, there's no rush to kill the squids."

Zynx nodded. "I'd agree with you."

Brigitte nodded.

 _Know your environment. A setting effects everybody: you, friend, and foe. Knowing its hazards and how to use or avoid them is as great as knowing the environment's benefits._

It was hot and smoky outside, not to mention nighttime. Even if the squids had darkvision, any form of gas that wasn't air could still block their vision. It would be a bad idea to have DVa go outside, but that didn't mean Brigitte or Zynx couldn't. And if any ship coming their way had radar (which she assumed would since it'd be trying to find them), they could possibly pick up the squids. Additionally, they were in a war zone, more or less. Nobody with military sense would be foolish enough to come unprepared with a way of fighting or a way of escaping.

 _Know your comrades. Just because one hasn't told or showed themselves performing an action doesn't mean they can't. There's a lot more to anyone than the size of their body or weapon._

Brigitte looked Zynx in the eye. They had just practically met, but she didn't know thing about him other that he was an ex-Talon member. "What can you do?"

"Pardon?" Zynx asked.

"Your strengths," Brigitte explained. "Do you have any combat capabilities? Maybe you have access to the internet?"

Zynx shook his head. "I don't have access to the internet. But if the question is what's something I can do that others can't, well…" Zynx held up a hand for _one moment,_ then rolled up his right sleeve past his elbow joint. It looked similar to Zenyatta's, as it was a lever joint like real elbow with rods for arms. But after closer look, Brigitte noticed strange markings one each piece of him. Zynx began to tinker with his arm, scratching and rubbing it around the joint. Then, he karate chopped his arm off at the elbow.

Brigitte almost screamed in panic as it clunked onto the floor. DVa began choking on her coughs until Brigitte quickly knelt beside her and patted her back. DVa stabilized as Zynx gestured towards his arm. "Observe."

Without warning, the arm dissolved, crumbling and shifting into sand-like particles. Whatever metal was in the air fell to the floor until there was just a pile of "metal sand." Then, just as quickly, the sand reassembled itself into the arm it was before. Brigitte was god-smacked as Zynx calmly walked over to it and picked it up. "Just like this arm, the rest of my body is composed of nanomagnetic titanium and other alloys. Even if I were to be caught in an explosion, each billionth piece of me has instructions on how to reconstruct itself. It's very similar to a human's cells and its DNA instructions."

Brigitte rubbed her forehead, realizing what this meant. "You can effortlessly regenerate yourself."

"As long as my core is intact and my pieces are within range of it." Zynx held his arm close before it snapped together like magnets. He moved it normally, bending his wrist and fingers as tests. "I'm not so easy to be destroyed. That's why Sombra was sent to kill me. Her electromagnetic pulse would, quite literally, shut me down. And as for fighting capabilities, I don't have anything. I was built specifically for researching hostile environments, such as areas with harmful nuclear radiation or earthquakes. Environments where humans could easily die."

Brigitte nodded once more. "Thanks for telling me."

"Think nothing of it. I hope this helps you to trust me."

"It does. And there's one more think I'll need to know before I plan on what to do from here."

"And what's that?"

 _Know everyone's inventory, friend and, if possible, foe. Out of sight, out of mind, or so the saying goes. It's easy to forget about something you have that can help you, or what an enemy has that can hinder._

"Any items you have. Weapons, armor, random pieces of junk, everything."

Zynx paused, then reached beneath his shirt by undoing the first two buttons. After feeling around, he pulled out…a hand-held something and a glove. The base of the white and black object had a handle like a wagon, but a three-fingered claw that seemed to move loosely like a windmill. Each finger had a wire, and between the claw and handle was a circular exhaust like the inside of a jet turbine (Symmetra's Photon Projector). "A few things I managed to grab as I left one of their bases of operations."

Brigitte frowned. "I don't know what that is. It looks familiar, though."

"You may have seen it if you've worked with a member of Vishkar. It's a Photon Canon. As the name implies, it can emit photons in either a beam or a blast. Simple, really. Unlike this." He gestured towards the glove, which looked very similar to the claw of the Photon Canon with wires around its fingers. "This, in simple terms, consumes raw material from a storage unit wherever it may be and creates objects. It can't create an object, however, if there is not enough raw material provided. If I use it, Talon will definitely know I have it soon and probably cut of its connection to the storage, so it's effectively a one-time use item. Here's a list of things it can create."

He removed a crumbled piece of yellow notepad paper and handed it to Brigitte. She took it and read over all of the possible creations it could make. Everything seemed typical—nuts and bolts, rods, tools, even small turrets—until she went to the very bottom. Her eyes gradually widened as her gears began to turn. She gestured for Zynx to come next to her and DVa. Zynx walked knelt down next to her, all three of them in the blue light of her shield. She showed him the last word. "Is there enough material to make that?"

Zynx nodded. A warmth surrounded Brigitte like a veil. Hope. She rubbed DVa's head, almost laughing with joy. Although their situation was her fatigued, DVa critical, and Zynx with Sombra hunting him, there was a way to the goal. "We can still do this, DVa."

DVa coughed up a smile, placing her trembling hand on hers. "I play…to win."

Brigitte gripped her hand. "Tell me one more thing." She look at Zynx's glowing eyes. "What's the range of the one-way teleporter (Symmetra's old ultimate)?"


	33. Chapter 33

Brigitte had a plan.

It wasn't a great one. Nothing close to guaranteeing their survival and destroying the squids. But it was something. And something was better than nothing.

She stood with her back to the door, playing out her role of the plan in her head. Except for her boots and shield, she had taken off all of her armor. Every piece laid around the disabled teleporter, which looked like a high-tech, six-bladed ceiling fan on the ground. The circular platform in its center was shaped like a bowl with some sort of gel in its center. Brigitte understood how to build most machines, electronics, and other miscellaneous objects, but something like the teleporter still seemed like science-fiction to her. Even more so on how Zynx just summoned it like magic.

Zynx was examining his creation all around before nodding. "It's sure to work once I place the output panel."

Brigitte nodded. "We're counting on you."

She looked down at DVa, who was looking back at her. Her expression was as worried as it was confident. Brigitte frowned. "Sorry I couldn't think of another way."

DVa shook her head and coughed. "Don't. To stick together…was a rule of thumb. Now…this is our best chance."

It was hard to see her with the light of her shield several feet away, but she could just make out DVa giving her a confident smile. "Now hurry up. Time's running out."

Fatigue still wore her down, but she maybe she felt of surge of strength in that moment. She couldn't tell, since whatever that feeling was had disappeared. "I'll be back."

"And we'll be waiting for you on the other side," Zynx nodded. "Good luck."

"You, too." And with her shield and mace in hand, she slowly peeked out the bathroom door. Seeing the coast was clear, she stepped out.

The door creaked closed behind her as she stepped silently through the hall. The shield's glow was more of a calming element to her situation then protection. The squids could easily see the light around a hall if they were around, but Brigitte couldn't see anything else consistently otherwise.

 _Your shield is your most important piece of armor, always,_ Reinhardt once said. _If you had to choose between your mace or your shield, take your shield._

The pipes and doors began to blur after a while. How long had she sneaking around? A few minutes? As long as she was far enough from the bathroom. And hopefully nowhere near the bathroom entrance or bunker exit.

Eventually, she came to a corner. To her right and forward were the only ways to go. She had no idea where she was in the bunker, but she had taken the time to memorize the hallways near the bathroom: where the pipes were, which valves were along the pipes, and any scratchings on the door. With that in her head, she breathed. Butterflies began to flutter in her stomach, but she kept them down. With the thought of resolution, she began banging her shield against the wall.

The metallic echoes raced down the hall, and she was sure anyone (and anything, for this matter) could hear it. If the squids were still inside the bunker and they were still hunting them, she couldn't think of a reason why they wouldn't follow the sound. Wherever they were, by now, they shouldn't have been at any doors out. And that was Zynx's path to get outside with the teleporter's output.

Tension began to build up inside her like a jump scare for a horror movie as she listened. The moment she heard anything else besides her banging, it was back to cat-and-mouse, starting with moving in the opposite direction of the foreign sound. Her arms began to exhaust. Cold sweat began to bead down her forehead. To her right, she heard clanking noises.

She stopped and quietly walked forward. The sound kept coming as she kept walking. She couldn't tell if it was one squid or both, and she prayed it'd be the latter. Encountering one face to face was already a death sentence. She didn't need two ghosts spread out in this death-version of Pacman.

The clanking began to move faster, and so did she. A full run would give her away by the heavy steps from her boots, so that was a last resort option. She had half the mind to leave them with the rest of her armor, but if she stepped on something like a broken pipe and sprained her ankle or punctured her foot, that was it. No, better to be protected from the terrain then potentially increase her speed.

After a while, Brigitte was beginning to familiarize herself. She was close to the bathroom. Just a few more turns.

But as she made a left, she saw a red light illuminating the hallway the bathroom was in.

She cursed. The noise behind her was still becoming louder. She stood at a crossroads, allowing her to go in four different directions. She had no idea how the squid behind her was still on her tail. If it wasn't using sound to track her, then how was it doing so?

Last resort. She slid off her boots as quietly as she could before lifting them with both hands. If the way she needed to go was ahead of her and the pursuing squid was on her left, then she ran right. She scanned the floor as she sped, now at risk of injuring herself then being detected. Her socks had zero friction, so the ground was effectively an ice rink. As she reached its end, now at a three-way intersection of going left and right, she turned around and threw her boots.

She turned around the corner as her boots tumbled onto the floor, louder than the clanking. Not only did she her the clanking from all the way down the hall now, but from the bathroom hall. She looked around where she was now and cursed again. In front of her was a dead end. Behind her was a dead end. She essentially trapped herself.

She didn't bother to look at the doors. One of them could've been unlocked or the actual way out of the bunker, perhaps even the way Zynx got out (assuming he did; She'd go insane if she thought for a second he didn't). But after going around to each bunker, she had a very good idea that opening any door with the sound most of them made might as well have been like, _Here I am! Either trapped or on my way to meet my friend with our getaway car!_ No. Detection was the last thing she needed to be. Any other situation was better.

Red light peered down her escape hallway. She didn't dare peek down as the clanking soon stopped for the both of them. Her heart pounded as she thought of her next suicidal idea. She looked at her shield, lightly illuminating the wall she leaned on. Without thinking anymore on her idea, she gripped the shield with both hands and tossed it across the hallway, pass the red light.

It clattered around like a spinning coin losing momentum until it stopped. Immediately, the clanking had grew louder. The light grew brighter. Brigitte knelt and took a step back.

Her heart pounded in her throat as one squid rushed around the corner, its red eyes on the shield and its back towards her. The other one slowly moved, its tentacles slithering along the walls as it came. She felt air rushed pass her nose as the tip of one must've swung close to it, the squid turning left.

She didn't even want to think. The irrational idea that they would hear her thoughts felt very real, even if she knew that could never be. The second squid had turned its body and tentacles out of the way just enough for her body to move through. Without hesitating, she slipped on by and sprinted down the hall.

The intersection and where the squids were now at were thirty meters apart. Brigitte slowed down, silently gliding across the ground as she reached the crossroads. She sped her pace of feeling the ground with her hands as the squids sounded like they were turning around. As soon as she felt at least one boot, she lifted it behind her shoulder and chucked it down the hall, away from the squids. Then in one swift motion, she liked both of her hands for friction and propelled herself towards the bathroom hallway like a cat. Her boot echoed as she hurried away from all the commotion. She didn't dare turn around; she only ran like hell was behind her.

Red lights flashed twice behind her, but they quickly disappeared as fast as they came, along with the receding clanking.

She turned the corner. She let out the largest and quietest sigh she ever had in her life. Her body went completely sore as the adrenaline rushed out. Running was no longer an option. She lightly felt the walls until she came to the bathroom door. She pulled down on the door handle.

Locked.


	34. Chapter 34

Brigitte always tried to think positively. She wasn't successful at doing so all the time, but she would still do so nonetheless.

Sad to say, she failed to do so now.

 _No, no, no!_ She lightly jingled the handle, but to no avail. Her body gradually weakened as she continued, her legs trembling. Her muscles were feeling similar to when she passed out from sleep exhaustion. Her eyes began to droop.

Finally, she stopped with the handle. She leaned her head and chest against the door as she slid downward. Her feet slipped back until she was on her knees. She couldn't think of what to do. She _had_ to rest now.

The clanking of the squids paused before continuing. They receded until she couldn't hear them anymore. They must've thought she went the other way, which was the best blessing for now.

She went down Reinhardt's list in her head. Objective. The plan was for her to act as a distraction so Zynx could have a better chance to set the teleporter outside, preferably next to their Humvee. Once set, DVa would pull herself through with Zynx loading them up and Brigitte would meet them soon afterward. But since she couldn't, maybe they'd come inside to look for her after a while. If DVa and Zynx thought Brigitte was dead, would they still try to look for her? Or would they carry on? The idea of them coming to search for her was an idea to hope on, but DVa wouldn't have been able to do it in her condition. Zynx could do it, though he'd make noise as he walked, which would give him away. It was probably a better idea not to count on them for a search or rescue and hoped they didn't try.

The other rooms. Now that the squids were far away, she could try the doors around her for an unlocked one. These were military bunkers. The rooms could've been for a weapon storage, maintenance supplies, communication rooms, rooms with bunk beds, a door out of the bunker, _something_. At the very least, being in a room meant having a hiding space to rest safely. If a ship for pickup was coming, maybe they'd stay. It was likely Reinhardt would be on the ship as she thought about it. No way would he not have forced his way into trying to retrieve her. If she were to hide, she bet he'd bust down every single door before stopping to find her.

Whatever the case, the objective didn't seem like to reach the teleporter anymore. It was to find a safe space and rest.

But as she thought that, her body went numb. Her head slid down in an arc against the door until it hit the door frame. She laid on her side. Her body was paralyzed.

Her senses began to fade. The sickly scent of the ground right next to her nose didn't smell anymore. Each time she closed her eyelids, it was a battle to open them again. The ground's tremors from her ear to the ground seemed very quiet as her ear to the ceiling heard nothing. The oily, cool ground felt colder.

"Om ditt hjärta slår," she found herself singing in a croaked whisper, "kommer jag vara med dig vännen vart du än går" (If your heart beats, then I'll be with you friend wherever you go) (Vart Jag Än Går – Stiftelsen).

Brigitte was about to give up, that the next time she closed her eyes would be the last and she'd let fate decide what would happen. But before she brought her eyes down, the door began to slowly open in front of her. It softly squeaked as it opened faster. DVa fell onto all fours in front of it, coughing vehemently. A cyan light shimmered from inside and illuminated what was behind DVa, even brighter than her shield. Drops of blood dripped from her back onto the ground as the door pressed against DVa's side, trying to close. Her eyebrows were narrowed as she struggled to move. Her skin was sickly pale, but as she gripped Brigitte's hand, it was surprisingly warm.

Brigitte felt a tear run down the bridge of her nose as DVa tugged her little by little into the bathroom like a predator dragging in their prey. Eventually, Brigitte was back on the bathroom tiles with the door closing behind her.

In front of her was the teleporter. From its platform stretched the cyan light, shaped in an oval at least seven-feet tall. Maybe it was just Brigitte, but it emitted a continuous hum that almost sounded like angels.

DVa kept her tugging pace towards the teleporter. She was as slow as a turtle, but Brigitte's shoulder stretched further with her hand above her head as the rest of her body dragged.

Finally, DVa stopped. Brigitte laid side-by-side to the teleporter. The light shimmered around its edges as a candle would, but stayed solid in its center. DVa looked directly down at Brigitte, her hear surrounding her head like curtains. She smiled before mouthing, _See you on the other side._ And with that, DVa took Brigitte's arm and, with a massive grunt, slung her towards the light.

As her chest fell on top of the portal, all her senses went a blank white like she was hit by a flashbang.

Brigitte didn't realize she had closed her eyes until she tried to open them, in which she couldn't. But every other sense told her she was outside. Wind blew. Ash trickled onto her skin. Dirt and grass caressed her mouth, almost reaching into her mouth.

"Well," Zynx said from somewhere behind her. "You made it."


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: Finals are done. Passed my classes. Spring Break. Yay.**

Anyone who didn't know better would've thought all of Zynx's movements were completely silent besides his footsteps, but Brigitte knew to listen for the hum and light friction of like an armchair rising or falling to hear him moving. Those sounds approached before she felt two lumps of metal curl beneath her stomach. They heaved her up…only to drop her barely half a foot off the ground. Along with Zynx stumbling on top of her, something hitting her head. Ow.

"Dear me," Zynx said as he got back up. "You're a lot heavier than you look. I'm not sure how to carry you."

Although most girls would've taken offense to that, Brigitte was a body-builder. Beneath her I-LIKE-EXERCISE-CAUSE-I-LIKE-EATING black tank top was a four-pack, almost a six-pack. She hadn't noticed until now, but her arms and legs were slightly bigger with much more definition around the biceps and quadriceps. She took his observation as a compliment.

Brigitte was going to suggest it taking its time until it heard soft rumbling far ahead of her. She wasn't sure if it was the bunker they were just in until Zynx's curse confirmed it. "No time. Forgive me, Brigitte. I hope you'll see the practicality in this." She felt hands tighten around her boots and then a small, continuous tug. Her face must've looked horrific as it collected bits of dirt, grass, ash, and a chip of some metal against her cheek.

She didn't mind it though. What she _did_ mind was not hearing anything from the teleporter. She thought of asking the obvious question—Dva?—but her body was still a ragdoll. Plus, her lips were involuntarily kissing the sweet mother earth over and over.

Eventually, Zynx stopped dragging her. After repositioning, he flipped her over onto her back. A headache was racking her forehead, but it'd hopefully go away soon since the dragging was over. Zynx moved a bit above her before stating, "I'm going to be in the Humvee, arming the turret. You're beside it, and DVa has yet to come out of it."

Brigitte continued to struggle opening her eyes. It wasn't until a few more rumbles and Zynx scrambling into the Humvee turret cockpit before she could manage to do so. She expected to see stars twinkling until she remembered all the fires, ash, and whatnot in the sky. Above looked to be ominous rainclouds, some greyer and others a solid black. Ash still fell like black snow, trickling onto her face and giving her the urge to sneeze at every second. To her right was the Humvee with one of the reinforced side doors swung open. She could see the bottom of Zynx's feet, which were black dress shoes with metal plating at its soles. Above the Humvee was the canopy of a burned tree, with twisted branches as fragile as their twigs. And far, far above her…was it a ship?

The teleporter gave off a shutting-down sound, the blue-white light quickly fading and reappearing. Then she heard DVa coughing weakly above her head. She sounded as bad as Reinhardt as she rustled the dead grass, probably crawling towards her.

Then was the heart-stopping sound: the ground rupturing from the bunker. Iron and steel pieces of shrapnel flew around as Zynx began firing the turret. The squid's hum traveled throughout the valley as shells from the turret's ammo sprinkled over onto Brigitte's stomach. As the image above her kept expanding, she could confirm it _was_ a ship. From the underside, it was a white shuttle with a general body shape of a football. Its wings sprouted from its center and two stabilizing thrusters attached to its thin tail. And from it hopped something the shined brightly like a star from the sky.

Brigitte struggled to make out what it was. Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to wait. As quickly as whatever the light was descending, so were the squids. She heard them fire, the Humvee being showered by bullets. The next second, and electric _CRACK_ and screeched emitted from what must've been one of the squids. The shooting from Zynx and the second squid kept continuing as the screeching crescendoed. Then, just as the distinct sound of the second squid breaking, the Humvee was slammed by a crashing squid. And Brigitte's head was right next to the tire.

She remembered barely being able to process the Humvee skidding towards her with a millisecond of time before a heavy hit to her head. Then everything went black.

Dead. She must've been dead. All of her senses were out. No smell. No sight. No hearing. No taste. No touch. She couldn't even remember being able to think during the time period of nothingness. But the next thing she remembered was hearing a nostalgic voice she hadn't heard for two Christmases.

"Heroes never die."


	36. Chapter 36

The next thing Brigitte could remember after the blackness was the aroma of a doctor's office and a coffee shop.

As she came too, she felt horrendous: immense throbbing in the back of her head, nausea, dizziness, and extreme fatigue. Her eyes fluttered open, and her vision was extremely foggy. It was if she was in a dream or thick fog surrounded her. She tried to piece together why she was seeing a paneled, metal ceiling. Her clothes felt different—all she felt was something light wrapped around her upper body down to her knees—and her exposed skin rubbed against fuzzy, warm fabric.

Had she not been so confused about her new situation, she might've passed out then and there. She couldn't remember how long it's been since she felt this comfortable. She blinked and groaned as she took in indistinct beeps and pings from around her, especially above her head.

She let her head roll to her right, ready to fall asleep again. And she might have, if A.) it didn't sting so bad to do so, and B.) what she saw didn't spark such disbelief. Mercy, a swiss, middle-aged woman of blonde, white hair gazed back at her with wide, cyan eyes. Her first-response suit gave her the appearance of an angel. Mechanical white wings with red, emergency crosses dotting it sprouted from her back, rubbing up against the wall she sat in front of. A gold halo ring arched above a turf of hair that partially fell over the right side of her face, and a ponytail fell behind her. The suit surrounded her neck and back of head with black plating, and ginger-black armor covered her limbs.

Before Brigitte could react, Mercy shot up, her hands pressing into her neck and onto her forehead. "Rein, Brigitte's awake! I need your assistance!"

"H-huh?" Brigitte murmured.

"Right away!" came a familiar bark, followed by a stampede of footsteps.

Mercy tilted Brigitte's head back so that she was facing the ceiling again and the stinging receded. All of Brigitte's hair must've been on her left side since she could feel the tips of Mercy's fingers caressing her skull. "Blood pressure low, but not critical," she murmured to herself. "The parietal bone is still severely fractured, but better. Lena, get me my staff, would you? It's on the table. Reinhardt, the med kit. Hand me a cotton ball soaked in alcohol. Brigitte."

Mercy peered over her from Brigitte's right as a giant in steel armor stood behind her. The old man with his helmet off had tears running down his good eye as he handed Mercy a cotton ball.

"Brigitte, I need you to stay conscious and reactive for a moment." Mercy placed the ball against her head, where it stung like a snake. "Do you understand?"

Brigitte barely understood her surroundings, but she tried to nod. Mercy pulled her head back. "Don't move your head if you can. Don't want you blind. For now, move your eyes. Follow my fingers. Here we go."

As Mercy held two fingers above her, a familiar figure popped into view from below her feet. Tracer, a slim, British woman in a leather jacket over an orange jumpsuit, held a staff in both hands. The staff's tip had three panels that opened like a parasol, with a few buttons throughout the staff. Tracer gazed upon Brigitte through a massive, orange visor. Strapped to her chest and back was something she knew of called a chronal accelerator (CA), but honestly, it simply almost looked like a backpack with dimensional pockets, capped with turbines with cyan emissions.

Without looking, Mercy took her staff with one hand while slowly moving her fingers with the other. "Slowly, if you need to."

So Brigitte did. She moved them vertically, horizontally, then in random directions. After a moment, Mercy nodded. "Good so far. Rein, take her temperature. Lena, if you can fetch another blood bag for her. Brigitte, can you talk?"

Brigitte didn't want to move; being still felt like heaven. But she stuttered as Tracer left her field of vision. The pain wracking her head didn't help. "Y-yes."

"I know this must be hard, but I need you to answer my questions. Need to make sure your brain is perfectly fine before I seal your fractures. Now, I know this is dumb, but what's your full name?"

"B…Brigitte Ingrid Lindholm."

Mercy shot Rein a look. "Her middle name is her mother's first name?"

"I, uh, don't know, actually." Reinhardt frowned. "Never talked about middle names." He held out a thermometer, which he swiftly inserted inside Brigitte's mouth.

"Never mind, then. Brigitte, do you remember my full name?"

"…Angela…Angela Ziegler."

The pain began to wrack up and she winced. Mercy slowly rubbed her fingers in a circular motion against her temples. "You're doing very well. Just a few more questions and you can rest." She pressed a button on her staff, and a shining, yellow stream fell upon her.

"Is she going to be well soon, doc?" Tracer asked somewhere behind her. Her British accent was strong in her tone.

"It's nothing I can't heal in time." The thermometer buzzed. Mercy removed it, glanced it over, then set it aside. "Once we make sure the concussion is dealt with, she'll only need rest. Brigitte, do you know the man above you?"

Brigitte couldn't help but smile, and Reinhardt smiled back. "Rein. Whinny Reinny."

"Ve—pardon?" She shot another look at Rein, whose face was turning slightly red. "An inside thing. Forget you heard that."

"Like heck _I_ will! Ha!" Tracer called, "Hey, Winston! Genji! Guess what I just heard?"

"What?" echoed a heavy, scruffy voice and a robotic one from far above her head.

"Wait a—!" Before Reinhardt could finish, Tracer's CA made a cartoonish, high-pitched _FWOOSH_ before sounding like she was no longer in the area. "Ah, for the love of…it was just after I fought the dragons! I was _famished!_ "

Reinhardt left from Brigitte's view, leaving her alone with Mercy, who had slightly giggled. "Well, that's a laugh. Last question. I'm going to turn your head. I want you to tell me if you remember the girl laying on the bed."

Brigitte knew exactly who she was talking about before her head was turned. DVa, with only a simple pair of juniper-shaded lenin bottoms, laid with her chest against the bed. Pillows were below her head and groin, completely straightening her back. Blood still covered most of it, but it was all dried up. Several blood bags, most of them empty, laid at the base of her bed on wheels. Her makeup was gone, but her sleeping, babyish face still looked beyond cute. Had Brigitte been perfectly fine, her instinct would've led her to gently pat her head.

"D-DVa," Brigitte suddenly croaked. "Is she—?"

"She'll be fine," Mercy assured. "A few blood transfers did her well. All you both need now is rest. Now, try to sleep."

The yellow rays disappeared from around her and Mercy stood tall. "Do you want some pain killers?"

But Brigitte never answered the question. The thought finally came to her: they were safe. Finally. No more running. No more hiding. No more sleep deprivation. They'd have food soon, and water. She tried to think of how long it's been since everything started, but she couldn't. She closed her eyes at the same time a wave of massive relief spread across her body. Her eyes were like bricks, but this time, she didn't resist. It probably wouldn't be for long. Maybe a day, maybe a few hours. But she wanted to enjoy this sensation of peace as much as she could.

She heard Mercy sigh with relief. Brigitte felt the cotton ball move from behind her head before Mercy's footsteps receding away.

And she may have imagined this. But before Brigitte fell asleep, she thought she heard Sombra's voice whisper in her ear:

"Sweet dreams, amiga."


	37. Chapter 37

Brigitte felt much better the next time she woke up.

The fogginess of everything was gone, as if the windshield of a car was wiped clear. The headache was gone. The nausea and dizziness disappeared. And best of all? She felt well-rested. She hadn't felt this recuperated since giving her papa a piggyback ride for half a marathon. He wasn't her preferred teacher.

She opened her eyes and sat up steadily. Last time, she didn't have the mental stamina to register the details of the ship she was on. Now, she noticed the three navy-blue chairs with pull-down vests like rollercoasters build into the wall to her right. She picked up on the cushion chairs around a table like at a fancy restaurant across drawbridge door from her. Pictures and miscellaneous objects were placed into a small space built into the wall next to it. Along the top of the ship's walls drawbridge were windows, letting in nothing but blue sky and sunlight. The area seemed very similar for a lounge for R&R.

"Brigitte?"

Brigitte spun her head left to see DVa in a pink hospital gown. Brigitte couldn't remember how far their beds were before, but now they were side by side like a queen-sized bed. They were close enough to hold hands if they tried. She expected at least one of them to reek, but they both smelled of a coconut-scented soap. Brigitte finally looked down at herself to see she was washed and also wore a pink hospital gown. "We...we…"

"We made it," DVa finished.

They stared at each other. Brigitte's body had already taken that fact in, but it didn't stop her sighing heavily. DVa, on the other hand, spun her head, analysing their surroundings. "There's no cameras, right?"

"Cameras?" Brigitte looked around once more. "No, not that I can tell. If there were hidden cameras, they'd have to be built so that...DVa?"

DVa had begun crying. Times before, she had only seen her on the verge of doing so, with red eyes or sniffles. But now, solid tears watered her eyes as they dripped down her cheeks. On top of putting her hands to her head, she wept, wailing loud enough for anyone on the ship to hear.

And with that being said, Tracer blinked down from the head of the ship behind her. "What's happened?" She quickly looked between Brigitte and DVa. She blinked right next to DVa's side of the bed. "DVa, what's wrong?"

DVa didn't look to shock to see her as Mercy and Reinhardt came running into the room as well.

DVa sniffled, trying to stop the moans, but she failed. She bawled over without saying a word.

Mercy looked to Brigitte. "What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing!" She explained. "Nothing's wrong! It's just…"

 _Huh_?

Her eyes had begun to water as well. She willed for it to stop, but it only seemed to continue even more. "...we're relieved, is all." Her voice sounded froggy. "Nothing's wrong."

Brigitte didn't cry, but watching DVa sure almost changed that. Everyone's shoulders dropped as Zynx and two other figures walked into the room from the head of the ship.

She knew of Winston, the gorilla scientist. The gigantic animal was Reinhardt's size, but shorter and rounder. He walked on all fours, with rectangular glasses resting on his eyes. His space-suit-like armor only revealed his face, leaving everything else in black or white plating. On his back seemed to be a burst jet-pack, one with long, but powerful thrusters on its edges so that anyone could jump into orbit.

The second figure, she remembered from a few encounters along the road with Reinhardt: Genji. He was all robotic on the outside. If a muscular man was to replace his body parts with white plates, black bolts, green exhausts, and adobe...something for tendon muscles, you'd have the jest for his body. His head had a single-visor mask with devil horns on its sides. Strapped to the back of his waist was a shortsword and across his back was a longsword, both in black cases.

"Is something wrong?" Winston asked.

"No," Mercy said. "All is fine."

Brigitte tried to ignore the others were around and scooted closer to hug DVa. She was pleasantly surprised, however, that DVa dove her face into her chest before Brigitte could wrap her arms.

And it was the hug that cracked Brigitte. Tears began to roll down as flashes of what they've been through went through her head: Bunker 29, the OR14 Idina bot in the cafeteria, surviving the bastion unit, Bunker 1, the failed retake, and hiding from the squids. All of that was no longer than a week, but it felt like months. Brigitte could barely remember her daily workout routine and almost didn't recall her cat's name was Snowball.

As Brigitte hugged back, she could hear Reinhardt sniffling, too. She looked around to see the old man's face shading red as he scrunched his nose. He stepped up to both of them, knelt down, and stretched his wide arms over their backs.

The scene they were making was apparently contagious. Mercy turned away, fanning her face, as Tracer asked in an usually sad voice, "Makes you want to cry, huh, Winston?"

"Yeah," he said, dragging an arm across his face. "Almost."

*.*.*

They all calmed down before forming a circle. Going left, it was Brigitte and DVa still laying in the beds, Mercy behind a projector table, Winston, Tracer, Genji, Zynx, and Reinhardt. The eight of them were silent for a moment before Mercy cleared her throat. "I guess I'll start."

She looked at DVa and Brigitte. "Girls, I'm very glad to see you two as well as you both were when we found you, and much more alive. And I'm sure everyone overall shares the same sentiment."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Zynx didn't move his head as much. Brigitte noticed he seemed to be glancing at Genji and Mercy whenever he could.

"Before I go further, Brigitte, you've suffered a concussion. I just want to check on the last thing you remember before you woke up a while ago."

Brigitte frowned. "The last thing I remember...is you asking me the names of you, me, Rein, and DVa." She scratched her head. After knowing DVa was ok, she remembered closing her eyes and...that was it, as far as she could tell. "I remember hearing was you asking if I needed painkillers. That's it"

"Good." Mercy nodded in agreement. "If you experience any unusual symptoms in your day-to-day activities, come seek me out immediately. Injuries with the brain are nothing to second-prioritize. Next, DVa. I'm aware your actual name is Hana Song, so how would you like us to address you?"

DVa shrugged. "DVa or Hana works for me."

"Very well. I'm known equally from my work as both Mercy and Angela, so feel free to use either. And as for Lena...well, you can speak for yourself, Lena."

"Feel free to call me either, loves," she said, looking between DVa and Brigitte. "Though the public knows me better as 'Tracer," so if you're speaking _about_ me, you might want to use that." She gave an opportunistic look at Mercy. "You say we can call you _just_ Angela-"

"Only DVa and Brigitte. I still expect the prefix of 'Commander' from the rest of you." She looked amongst them all until she landed on Genji. "Um, that is, while we're in the public eye or performing operations."

Brigitte swore she saw Mercy just barely blush, but she went back to her firm face. Brigitte wondered how she became _the_ commander of Overwatch as she continued, "I imagine what needs to be said are three things." She held up a finger as she counted. "First, everything Brigitte and DVa have been through since the attack on the mountain range. Two, Zynx's story and what to do with him."

Everyone looked at the omnic, who slightly looked down.

"W-wait a minute," DVa interrupted. "What do you mean by 'what to do with him?'"

Mercy sighed. "I can't imagine how the three of you met, but from the point of view of an Overwatch member, an 'ex'-Talon member shows up insisting he's no longer working for them is an extraordinary claim. And extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We do welcome refugees, knowing Talon is something of a dictatorship. But by the same coin, we´ve had traitors before as well."

Mercy's eyes darkened. She looked as if she wanted to say more, but she shook her head. "I guess something to ask is if Zynx-or so he calls himself-is really being hunted by Sombra. Brigitte and DVa, can either of you confirm this?"

"We can," they both said. They both looked at each other, and Brigitte gestured for DVa to speak. "Not long after we met him in Bunker 8, we talked with Sombra. She's trying to assassinate him."

She nodded. "Then I won't be so cold as just to throw him out without some form of protection, if it's decided to not keep him around. However…" she paused, then shook her head. "Nevermind, I'm getting ahead of myself. The last thing to talk about is to bring you two up to speed about what's happened since the attack on the mountain range. Um, where should I start?"

She looked around, pausing more on Genji than the rest. Brigitte looked up to Reinhardt. She imagined he would've been much more talkative than this, but his eyes were staring off at the floor. She wasn't even sure if he was paying attention.

 _I wonder if he's really told you the truth about his retirement._

To ask Reinhardt about what Sombra said was a top priority for her, but now wouldn't have been appropriate. She stored the question for later.

"A question I've been wondering," Brigitte spoke up. "Where are we going?"

"Then we'll start with bringing you two up to speed." Mercy tapped the top of the island table she was behind. An orange projection of the globe the size of a fountain appeared, with longitude and latitude gridding. A blue targeter hovered over southern California, next to the Arizona boundary line. "We're heading to Phoenix, Arizona, where the next... _suitable_ stronghold is located. ORTF is operating from its USA relays there, a private sector for communications, in order to gather intel about the omnic army's movements."

"The one escorting the payload," DVa guessed.

"Yes. There are numerous other military bases closer to the payload, but they're 'red' areas, due to Talon activity. We're acting on the request of Jeong Sung-Ho, the Commander of the Mobile Exo-Force of the Korean Army, to rescue you and Brigitte from the southern section of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. We should be back within a few hours. We're still in 'red' territory, so we're taking a detour to try and avoid complications."

"What about the payload?" DVa asked.

"As far as I know, the ORTF is doing its best to slow it down, but after its recent loss, it's still moving a lot faster than they're comfortable with."

"According to my calculations," Winston interrupted, "The payload will reach Fredonyer Pass in twelve days."

The globe changed to a zoomed-in layout of California, with Nevada in the top right and Arizona in the bottom right. A green line with a "P" marker over Mount Patterson connected itself to Freyondor Pass with a countdown next to it going down by the millisecond.

"Not as fast as we can," Mercy said, "but for the size of it, that's basically turbo-speed. Who knows what else is inside that's potentially heavy enough to slow it down. General Harold says he's developed a strategy to neutralize it, but it requires proper setup and timing. Time being a very big issue. But enough about that. You two will have your own worries, I'm sure."

Brigitte frowned. "We will?"

"Ah, well, DVa does, certainly." She looked towards her. "Commander Jeong asked me to pass down the order to regroup with the rest of your MEKA squad after landing. From there, I assume you'll be back under his command."

DVa hung her head. "Yeah."

"And as for you, Brigitte," Mercy said, turning her head towards her, "you have options. You're not particularly affiliated with any organization, so you don't have to involve yourself in this conflict any longer."

Brigitte almost took offense to that, but she knew Mercy. As the advocate of peace she was and their almost mother-daughter relationship, she was just trying to encourage the safer options. "You're also a well-established mechanic, a member of the Ironcload. Your skills are in high demand all around the base we're heading towards. And if you still want to be closer to the action, I'd gladly welcome you as a temporary member of Overwatch. As a doctor, I'd recommend light work with whatever you do for the next few days."

Brigitte felt disturbed that none of those options seemed close to working with DVa. As she thought about it, she wondered why she was disturbed. Their responsibilities were very different, and DVa was under militaristic command. What they had to do from now on, whatever Brigitte chose from those options, didn't seem to have many opportunities of at least seeing each other.

Assuming she would choose from those options.

"But enough about the future for now," Mercy said. "You two have came back from a lot, I'm sure. And it's become clearly obvious how much Tracer wants to hear about your stranding."

Tracer, though as centered as she was, was jittering, biting the bottom of her lip with a smile. "So what happened? How did it all start?"


	38. Chapter 38

**One of the hardest things to do after not writing for so long was to get back into this. I want to let everyone know the saving grace to get me rolling again was my promise to get back mid-June and _every_ review for the story. It also helped greatly to see the list of names of everyone who's following and favorited the story. Thank you everyone! Now, the story continues on.**

Telling the story took a lot longer than Brigitte imagined it would.

From the very beginning, DVa had looked to Reinhardt. "Do you remember me, Reinhardt?"

He frowned. "I know _of_ you from the media. But outside of that…" He scratched his head. "Ah, this old dog's memory wasn't how it used to be."

DVa nodded slightly. "I remember you from one of the omnic monstrosity attacks. You helped escort me from Pohang shortly after it was destroyed. I believe you had volunteered for the government after-effect program?"

Now Reinhardt looked seriously in thought. He rubbed his temples and scratched his head. "I…remember bits and pieces of what you're describing. There were several other people I rescued from the aftermath, so I can't say I remember you in particular. Forgive me."

"No it's ok." DVa slightly clenched her blankets. "Both my parents have been MIA since then. I didn't know if you'd remember also rescuing them by chance. Please don't worry about it; it was a stretch to ask. I've been meaning to say this, though, ever since." She bowed, bending her back as far as she could while in the bed. "Thank you."

He gave a heart-felt smile. "You're welcome. To see someone alive and well from back then is its own reward."

Brigitte decided to follow everyone else's lead in the room, which was to remain quiet. She wanted to say something to brighten her up about her parents, but she had nothing.

The next questions and comments were about the initial attack. Winston scratched his head. "The bastions came from the sky, you say?"

"Yeah, like the aliens invasion scene from Ben 10: Omniverse Renovation."

Everyone looked at DVa quizzically except Brigitte, who gave a relieved smile. She couldn't recall DVa making a gaming reference since their travels to Bunker 1, when their situation wasn't too stressed. Although nobody understood that reference, it was nice to know she was relaxed.

"I…I see," Winston said like he didn't understand. "Like an airdrop?"

"Like care packages," DVa agreed. "Once they hit the ground, they were up and running."

"Disturbing." Winston _hmm_ ed. "The electro-magnetic barrier should've destroyed their programming and electric functions upon entering the airspace. Had they destroyed it beforehand?"

"No," Brigitte answered. "We actually destroyed that later so Commander Jeong could contact the air fleet during the retake."

"It was most definitely Sombra," Zynx said.

Everyone looked towards him as she continued. "I didn't know a lot of Sombra's plans as she was somewhat private with them. She also has a habit of improvising many situations since the plans she's in don't often work out. But I do recall knowing she had been stationed at mountain range weeks before the attack. There's no doubt in my mind she somehow disabled them before the launch began."

A silence permeated the air. "So, she's had a hand in things for that long." Mercy shook her head. "It baffles me one woman is capable of espionage on that level. I know Captain Amari was good during her time as "Shrike" in Egypt, but…"

That worried Brigitte. She had never met the co-founder of Overwatch, but she heard a lot about her from Reinhardt. Apparently, she's been dropping anonymous tips to keep a resistance group in Egypt out of the eyes of the government like nobody's business. If Sombra was compared well beyond her…she stopped thinking about it. She didn't need that stress at the moment.

"Do you know anything about the payload?" Genji asked.

Zynx nodded. "A bit more than most, in fact. It wouldn't be inaccurate to compare it to a carrier ship. The AI controlling it is capable of controlling the monstrosity if it gets its hands on it, as some of you know. To give you a rough idea of its performance level, its floating point operations per second is above three hundred. I also heard at its peak performance levels that it's above six hundred and that it can go even higher."

Dva and Winston's eyes were as wide as their mouths.

"How bad is that, DVa?" Brigitte asked.

It took her a moment to gather her words. "The strongest supercomputers are the ones at Ecopoints like Antartica, San Andreas, and Mount Everest. Each one can calculate natural factors like temperature, moisture, wind speeds, earth tremors, and other things of a wide area a few hundred times per second. That's at around one-eighty operations per second. So for six-hundred…"

"It can most definitely control the entirety of the monstrosity with ease," Winston finished. "I was hoping their technology might prove to be inefficient, but…"

Another silence went around, but Zynx quickly continued. "It's also armed with numerous anti-aircraft weaponry and drilling devices. Many of the omnics that fell from the sky from the initial attack were launched from its deploy cannons. This is all in the words of Sombra. She's done a tour of the place, apparently."

Reinhardt nodded. "A beast among beast. I sure hope the ORTF knows all this as they make their plans."

"Tracer, go send a quick message to General Vorn about this," Mercy ordered. "Just to be safe."

"Aye aye, captain!" Tracer blinked out of sight towards the ship's main panels.

Brigitte and DVa continued after Tracer returned. At the mention of DVa's rebuilt MEKA, Mercy asked, "How did that come to be?"

"We don't know," Brigtte said. "I was actually hoping one of you guys could tell us."

Everyone looked to Winston, deep in thought. "Vishkar technology is my only thought. Outside of that, I don't know."

Brigitte and DVa looked to Zynx, but he shook his head. _Not me._

When Brigitte got to the OR14, Reinhardt grinned mischievously as he listened in. Brigitte couldn't help but get into it and lavish details, even if some were exaggerated. At the end, Reinhardt laughed. "Well done! My first encounter with them might've been more heroic than that, but well done nonetheless. You are quite the crusader."

"Jeez, thank you for your kind praise," Brigitte murmured, but she felt a warm feeling inside her chest from the compliment.

The rest of the story was more or less told without interruption: journeying to Bunker 1, discovering the omnic army and the payload, warning Commander Jeong, discovering the underground arsenal, witnessing the retake defeat, discovering the omnic monstrosity, trudging to Bunker 8, meeting Zynx, meeting Sombra, and finally how they survived the omnic squids to be rescued in time.

Brigitte had left Sombra's retirement comment. She'd get to that eventually.

At its end, Brigitte and DVa sighed. Reinhardt laughed with glee as he glanced at Sombra. "Brings back memories from our days, doesn't it, Angela?"

Mercy shrugged. "A few. All in all, as I've said before, I'm glad you're both ok. Goodness knows you both can take it easy for a while."

A loud beeping like a stopwatch resonated from the front of the ship. "Huh, we must be nearing the base. That was much sooner than expected. Tracer, would you…?"

"No problem, love!" She blinked back to the front of the ship.

"Now then," Genji said as he faced Zynx. "It's time for your story."


	39. Chapter 39

**A/N: If anyone coming back to this is confused about the beginning of this chapter, try the previous chapter. I updated that, but I guess replacing chapters don't send notifications.**

Everyone turned to Zynx as he kept his head down for the moment, starring at the floor. The air was uneasy, making Brigitte even more nervous. It just occurred to Brigitte after how Genji confronted Zynx with his statement that Zynx _was_ a member of Talon in their eyes until proven otherwise. She doubted any fighting would go down on the ship, but she remembered Zynx describing what he could do. Though it would've been at least five on one if Overwatch turned on him, he wouldn't be so easy to physically eliminate.

Before Brigitte became so uncomfortable that she thought of randomly coughing just to provide some sound to the room, Tracer blinked down from the head of the ship, standing next to Mercy. "We'll be there soon. Sorry, I guess I didn't remember setting the autopilot speed to six-hundred knots. I could've sworn I left it at five-hundred a while ago."

"That's alright," Mercy said. "I trust we're in Arizona now?"

Tracer nodded. "Should be out of any hostile air space with the set course."

"Very well." Mercy turned her attention back to Zynx, but didn't say anything.

Tracer smiled warmly at Zynx as she noticed him eyeing her. "Ready when you are."

Zynx nodded deeply. "I guess the place to start is who I am. My origin story, if you will." Zynx brushed his suit lightly, although it had been cleaned to pristine. "I assume you all know the name of Maximilen?"

Everyone but Brigitte and DVa frowned. "I can't say that _I_ have," Brigitte said. "I know I've heard it before, though…"

"Sombra mentioned the name, remember?" DVa reminded her. "Back at Bunker 8. She said Zynx sounded like him when they talked?"

"Maximilien is a wealthy omnic and a member of Talon's inner council," Winston explained. "He started as an accountant, but found his true talent in money laundering. Or so Sojourn informed us." A shiver ran down his spine as if saying the same scared him like a curse. "She said that over the years, he found wealth in the businesses he purchased and ran, such as Don Rumbotico, Casino Monaco, and a few others around the world."

Zynx nodded. "That, indeed, is all true. His is all of this…and my older brother."

Eyebrows raised in surprise with wide eyes from Mercy, Tracer, Winston, and Reinhardt. Genji's face couldn't change with the mask, but Brigitte had a feeling he was as surprised as well.

Zynx continued as if he had just said a trivial fact. "We started off together in Venice, Italy. I'd take trips to analyze E-waste from toxic areas such as Agbogbloshie, Ghana and Chernobyl, Ukraine. With the data I would collect, I'd figure out an antitoxin for the soils in the region so that the wasteland wouldn't deteriorate humans and omnics alike without them realizing it. Max was the accountant in this, selling the data, formulas, and antitoxins alike. It was all well and good until…until Doomfist approached us."

The Overwatch members frowned deeper than the mention of Maximilen's name. "He told us how Talon had the resources to help speed up our process and how our work would be able to better serve everyone. Max bought in immediately. I was skeptical at first, but Max is my brother. I trusted him. And soon, he even showed us results of sales and pictures of the environments I dwelled into becoming…well, _more_ habitable. So, I continued to serve happily with Talon, believing my work was truly helping people."

Mercy sighed, pushing her fingers against her temples. She seemed to have connected something she knew of, but still remained quiet.

"While in Talon, we grew apart. He ended up within Talon's inner circle as I became a lackey. I didn't mind, however. I felt good about the work I was doing and I still talked with Max. But one day, recently, I was given a file by a Talon agent. I presumed he mistook me for Max. I thought of just giving it straight to Max, but I was curious and looked inside. They were documents of Talon as a legitimate business of a charitable environmental cleanup association. It was the history of accepting money from numerous benefactors and the money processings to purchase poisons specialized for martial weapons."

"Were these poisons some variation of the Brazilian Wandering Spider?" Mercy asked.

Zynx lowered his head some more. "Indeed."

Tracer's eyes shot up as she look at Mercy, who simply continued to nod her head.

"What is it?" Genji asked.

"It's the same poisoned used in Widowmaker's venom mine," Winston answered. He collapsed onto his rear, looking at his feet. "The hours it takes to find antidotes for each one is taxing on my time. They're well developed."

"And excruciating," Tracer added. "That night in King's Row was…not fun."

"I gravely apologize for every grievance it may have caused anyone," Zynx said. "I had been told my data had been helping people. Max did say some of the data would be used to developed posions, but once I saw the ration and profits…I was devastated.

"I gave the documents to Max, but didn't tell him what I did. Not that it mattered. He's my brother. He knew what probably had happened from that simple interaction of returning them to him. A few days later, the inner circle of Talon had agreed it was time for me to "finally" rise in ranks. To prove my worth to the organization, I was told I'd be something of an apprentice of Sombra's. I was to join Sombra as she infiltrated the ORTF her in the states, discover why the bunkers were established, and assist her in any operations she'd carry out.

"I didn't want to overall. I knew she was more of a "prison guard" than a coworker. If I did anything to betray Talon, Sombra had easy means to eliminate me. I tried to reason with myself that maybe it wasn't as bad as it could be. Sombra is something of a selfless murderer, killing specific people so that other groups wouldn't suffer or be killed in time. Maybe all her operations were saving more people elsewhere. So, I worked with her. Sombra assigned me a persona to play out while being stationed here in the bunkers, hacking in an official profile of me into the system as general maintenance operator while informing her of anything she requested that I could provide. I did so, since I wasn't doing harm to anyone. Until the initial attack on the bunkers.

"I saw the aftermath. It felt as bad as seeing Max's documents, if not worse. I was assigned the next day to anticipate retake a retake sometime later and build a bomb and teleporters. The plan was for me to plant a bomb on Hoppas, one of the 'marked for life' ships that Sombra would garuntee the safety of so that during the ORTF's retreat, the bomb would wipe everyone out. But as the days went by and the day for the retake approached, I finally decided to betray Talon."

Zynx glanced up at Reinhardt. "'Death before dishonor.' I believe that's how the phrase goes."

Reinhardt nodded his head, giving him a grin. "An old chivalry code. Should be for _every_ classic and modern hero, in my opinion."

Brigitte felt odd seeing Reinhardt approve of Zynx. As Zynx had explained his story, she had begun remembering moments with her father, most of them unpleasant. Most of them he had blamed on the omnic crisis and omnics. All of those ill wills she had adopted. So to see Zynx get along so well with Reinhardt in the moment, especially after hearing that nostalgic phrase, felt like a slap to the face.

Zynx returned his eyes to the ground. "Well, that was my decision. I was supposed to timely teleport a bomb through a one-way teleporter onto the ship after Sombra had set up the receiving end on the ship. When she did, I did nothing. Rather, I fled to Bunker 8, far from my assigned position. And there I waited, whether for Sombra or any Talon assassin. It was soon after I had fully accepted my death that I met these two." He nodded to DVa and Brigitte. "And, well, they told my end of the story with theirs. We escaped Sombra within the bunker, and you guys arrived to retrieve us. And here we are, in the present."

Zynx gestured around him, to everyone and the ship. "That is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

The room was silent as Brigitte thought of her father and his makeshift arm. As well as he had grown accustomed to it, he always mumbled or cursed whenever it got in the way of something. Sometimes, the arm would come off without him realizing it due to him constantly moving it around. Brigitte could remember them having to stop their marathon run in order to find it on their trail or when the family had to backtrack through Gothenburg stores and restaurants to see if anyone found it. Brigitte had once thought when she was young that her father being an expert mechanic that he'd build one that stayed on permanently, but her father once explained how he needed to take it off every now and then, especially when resting.

 _Don't trust an omnic any further than you can throw them whole_ , he once said. _They're incapable of empathy, and act purely on logic. I just know the world would burn faster than flint if they ever receive the same rights as humans. And I'd bring Vulcan's wrath upon them if they give you the same treatment as I did._

Brigitte wanted to believe Zynx in whole. She truly did. But…

"Alright, by show of hands," Mercy said, "who here believes Zynx is trustworthy enough to help with the ORTF?"

Brigitte couldn't raise her hand, her father's words swimming in her head. And she felt immediately guilty about it as she saw DVa's shot up, followed by Genji, Tracer, Winston, and Reinhardt. Everybody except Mercy and her.

Mercy looked around in _complete_ shock as Brigitte looked down at her blankets, hoping DVa and Reinhardt wasn't looking at her. "Genji…" Mercy said softly.

"I have a good sense when an omnic lies," he said softly back. "I still wish to question him more, but he's been truthful through it all."

"Besides," Reinhardt came in, "I would've been blown to bits of not for him. I was on Hoppas. I saw that teleporter. Had wondered where it came from. He indirectly saved my life. The best I can do is speak up for him!"

Felt like another slap to the face for Brigitte.

"Human and omnic relationships are really good in Korea," DVa explained for herself. "We all have equal rights and see each other as family. I know it's biased, but…" in that moment, she caught Brigitte's eyes, which were filled with concern. Brigitte looked down again.

"Wow, I'd like to see that!" Tracer exclaimed. "Guess I'll plan a surprise vacation with Emily when this is all done!" She turned to Mercy. "Come on, love! The world can always use more heroes!"

What felt like a few moments ago, Brigitte was crying tears of joy. Now, the salty water in her eyes felt a lot different.

"I can have Athena run a modified polygraph test if you'd like, Commander," Winston suggested.

Mercy simply stood there, stunned. "I…I…is it me? Am _I_ …?"

Reinhardt sighed. "You're thinking of Moira?"

"She betrayed us. Betrayed _me_. I used to think that if I couldn't trust her, I couldn't trust anyone."

Reinhardt gestured towards the front of a ship. "A word with you, Angela. Some old advice for an old friend."

Mercy paused, then nodded. They both walked towards the front of the ship, staying within view, and began whispering. In the meantime, Brigitte could feel all eyes on her. She wanted to stay silent. She felt guilty and awkward and stupid.

"Papa doesn't trust omnics," Brigitte began to blurt out. She forced her voice to stay steady as a quick tear went down. She quickly rubbed it before clutching the edge of her blankets tightly. "Not that anybody else in the family had a real good or bad view of them, but he…he just hated them after he lost his arm to them. I never really hated omnics, but I've been slightly spiteful of them for taking Papa's…happiness, I guess? Mama told me of a lot of times of how Papa would joke, laugh, prank her sometimes for fun…but a lot of it stopped when he came home. Papa's not a bad person, so whenever he said the things he did about omnics, I listened to him. I guess I…I…"

"It makes sense that your father would say and think that," Mercy said as she rejoined the circle. Reinhardt stepped back in-between Brigitte and Zynx. "But what do _you_ think of omnics?"

Brigitte looked at Zynx, starring back at her. His face couldn't show expression. Yet, he seemed very sympathetic in that moment. "I…I trust them. Zynx, you…DVa and I probably wouldn't be here if not for you. I…I'm sorry for not showing a vote of confidence before. I'd like to change that." Brigitte put her hand up as high as she could.

Everyone seemed to smile as Mercy clapped her hands. "Let's do this again, then. Who here believes Zynx is trustworthy enough to help with the ORTF _or_ Overwatch?"

This time, even with the addition of Overwatch, everyone raised their hands, including Mercy. Brigitte glanced at Reinhardt, who was proudly smiling like he just saved the day. She wondered what he told her to change her mood and thought so quickly, but that'd also be for another time."

Zynx put his hands over his chest. "I am grateful. Grateful to you all."

And with that, Athena, Winston's personal AI companion, spoke through the ship in her female, robotic voice. "Arriving at Pheonix, Arizona."

"Well then," Mercy said, looking at DVa and Brigitte. "Are you both well enough to get dressed on your own? I'd highly suggest to see the view of the area before touching down."


	40. Chapter 40

Brigitte and DVa decided to change first before doing anything else.

Mercy handed them each a pair of undergarments and new clothes. Brigitte was given the same style and color of overalls, an ALREADY-PLANNING-ON-WHAT-I'M-GOING-TO-EAT-AFTER-THIS black tank top, and tall engineer boots, or laceless leather boots with hardened soles and toes. DVa was given another MEKA suit (Mercy said Jeong wanted her in it before she went into the public eye).

They were given the loading bay to change, the small rectangular space with one wall just nothing but various servers for the ship at its back. They stood out of view from the archway leading up to the area and as far away as possible from the small drawbridge with a tiny window that made one of the adjacent walls. The scent of coffee changed to hot metal as the crew's chattering from the ship's front was drowned from the humming batteries.

Brigitte wrestled with the idea of explaining her omnic biasm to DVa as she finished pulling her overalls up and began working on the strap. She could've strapped it with ease, put purposely fumbled it to by herself time to think. _Come on, Brig!_ She thought to herself. _Say something!_

Before she decided to say something, however stupid it'd be, DVa lightly asked, "Brigitte?"

She turned to see DVa pulling her hair over her shoulder, revealing her back with an open zipper. Most of her back was red like someone spilled hot water on it in the shape of a puddle, but it looked completely healthy. "Can you get the zipper for me, please?"

"Uh, yeah." Brigitte strapped her overall up before stepping behind DVa. She thought she could feel DVa's heat from her back onto her finger as she grabbed the small piece of metal, but maybe it was the space they were in. She zipped it up quickly without particularly meaning to. DVa shoved her hair onto her back as Brigitte to a step back. "Thanks. And about earlier…"

Brigitte mentally held her breath as DVa turned around. "I can't say I understand how everyone thinks, but I'm open to a lot of things. If you ever need to talk about anything, I'll listen. Just how you did for me. Ok?"

The time DVa shared her PTSD with Brigitte flashed in her head. Brigitte wasn't too sure DVa understood since having PTSD wasn't something to be ashamed about. But Brigitte reluctantly nodded. "Ok."

DVa smiled warmly. "Then let's check out the new map. Going to different places is so exciting!"

"Uh, map?" Brigitte asked.

"Uh, place. A 'map' in videogames is a place."

After they both fully dressed, they walked to the bridge of the ship where the others were. The walls, above the main cockpit and along the auxiliary cockpit, consisted over several black monitors displaying the ship's status in orange charts and diagrams. Even the front windshield displayed several maps and a GPS tracking the ship. The Overwatch logo was sprayed on the ground before the stairs leading to the main cockpit. Two drawbridges as big as the back ones split the auxilitary monitors from those around the chairs in the corner, which Genji and Reinhardt occupied (well, Reinhardt stood at the controls since he was too big for the chair), and monitors beneath the main cockpit and its stairs, where Winston and Zynx were.

Brigitte found herself in awe as she took it all in. Mercy and Tracer were in the main cockpit as DVa and Brigitte went up the steps. Mercy, after noticing their approach, gestured out the windshield. "Take a look. For a desert locale, they're quite developed."

Mercy wasn't lying when she said that. Brigitte had been thinking of the environment with a lot of reddened soil, cacti, and such—she had seen pictures of the Grand Canyon before, so she thought it would be similar throughout. But where there weren't any buildings, there was a surprisingly lot amount of green grass. Many of the buildings, houses and stores alike, were two stories tall with metal exterior so pristine, the city seemed to glow. It was hard to tell from how high up they were at the moment, but it seemed that were there wasn't a window, there was some sort of solar panel along the surfaces.

As the shuttle began to descend, Brigitte spotted the air force base before them. In the middle of the city, two runways parallel to each other stretched out a little over three kilometers. Around the northeast ends of them, roads sprouted out from them, forming something of a diamond-sign shape overall. Along the edge of those roads away from the runways were numerous square buildings clumped around each other like stones of a rock garden.

As the ship continued to descend, a voice came from a radio built into Tracer's control panel. "IFF confirmed. Contact is Orca, MV-261, over."

"Roger that," said another voice. "What's the word, 261?"

"MEKAmechanic on board!" Tracer replied. "Request priority clearance, over?"

"Deck's yours, come on down." The radio seemed to fumble before saying, "Private, tell the Commander 'the singer is back on tour.'"

As the connection cut off for good, Brigitte looked to Tracer. "MEKAmechanic?"

"'MEKA' for DVa and 'mechanic' for you," she explained. "We normally would've called you each by name, but with Sombra running around, we went all out code."

Brigitte waited for the ship to fly towards where the other ships were towards the very south, but it just kept descending between the runways. "Uh, the decks are over there," Brigitte pointed out.

Mercy nodded. "Unfortunately, Overwatch is still not welcomed in the public eye. Therefore, we're being given a special deck. One… _out_ of the public eye."

The ship continued to descend until it was a dozen feet above the ground. The sound of electronic machinery pulling metal rung from beneath them for a few seconds, and then the ship descended beneath the ground.

The orange glow from the monitors was the only source of light for a few seconds before they entered an underground deck, similar to where Brigitte and DVa picked up the Humvee out in the range. Heavy lightbulbs from the ceiling crossed with pipes and wires glared down onto a few crisscrossing soldiers in woodland cameo below. As the ship gently touched ground, Athena spoked from all around, "We have arrived at our designated destination, Overwatch members. Shall I monitor the ship?"

"Please," Mercy said as she and everyone and the other three at the cockpits stood up. "We'll be back soon. Hopefully, the council with General Harold will be brief."

"Very well." Athena responded.

The right drawbridge in the bridge of the ship depressurized and opened, slowly extending a walkway towards the ground outside. Heat as hot as the loading bay rippled from outside.

Brigitte was about to follow Mercy and Tracer down the stairs until she heard DVa taking deep breaths. She was making hand gestures one would make when calming their nerves. "DVa, you good?" Brigitte asked.

DVa nodded vigorously. "Yeah. I have to pay more attention to detail when out in public."

Before Brigitte could ask what that meant, DVa opened her eyes. Her face was calm and firm like a forced, serious expression. Then she added a smirk to it as if she was beyond confident. "Public face: on." And without another word, she strode lively down the stairs past Brigitte. Brigitte and DVa were the last to exit the ship.

The few soldiers around were already starring at them all as they stepped off the drawbridge. The space of the deck was big enough for the ship, but not two of them in any direction. The fresh paint from the H21 on the ground and the copper-coated railings along the perimeter of the deck told Brigitte this square space wasn't older than a year. Cargo was piled together, being pushed around on dolleys through double doors north of them. And from those doors walked a familiar Asian man with a buzzcut, a wrestler body frame, chubby cheeks, and a babyish face. His green uniform consisted of a few badges and a commander logo pinned onto his left shoulder. Commander Jeong.

He approached the Overwatch members as they all walked towards him. When they met, he saluted them as everyone saluted back. Brigitte, feeling awkward being the only one not to do so besides Zynx, saluted back. She had no experience with military formalities and etiquette. Reinhardt never bothered to show her since, in his words, _Bah! You're an adventurer! You don't need to!_ He was probably right, even in this situation, but she'd rather not stick out.

"I hope everything went smoothly," Jeong expressed as everyone stopped saluting, Brigitte a beat behind.

"Just barely," Mercy said.

"You've cured her injuries?"

"For the most part, yes. I'd recommend light activity for the next couple of days, but she'll be in top condition thereafter."

"I see." Jeong between both Brigitte and DVa from behind the other members. Mercy turned to face everyone. "Meet back here within the next three hours."

An assortment of confirmation let out from them all before they began to split. Tracer and Winston rushed to the double doors up ahead as Genji and Zynx followed behind at a tranquilized pace. Reinhardt gave Brigitte a hard slap on the back, propelling her forward a step. "And here we are! Almost home! Come, the RV is in dock G3. I also bought your favorite beer!"

Brigitte would've been lying if she said that didn't make her run to take off in a dead sprint to find it. But she looked to DVa, who was currently shaking Jeong's hand. "It's good to see you, DVa." He said.

"Likewise, sir." She let go of his hand.

He nodded. "Let's bring you up to speed. I'll give you a brief tour in the process before regrouping you with the rest of your squad."

He began talking, but before he could even finish his sentence, Brigitte called out, "Wait."

Mercy, Rein, Jeong, and DVa all turned towards her. Brigitte cursed herself as she mentally slapped her brain. She wanted to speak, but the four sets of eyes on her wasn't helping. Without knowing what else to do, she looked towards DVa. Brigitte imagined she had something of a pleading look.

Fortunately, DVa got the message. "Sir, permission to speak freely?" DVa asked.

"Granted," Jeong said.

"Brigitte and I were hoping to stay together. Would you mind her coming along?"

He looked at Brigitte with a poker face. She couldn't pick up any clues on where his thoughts were at all. He looked towards me. "Would you allow it?"

Mercy held up her hands with a chuckle. "She's not Overwatch-affiliated. Although her father is, she's something of a freelance engineer."

Jeong turned his gaze back to Brigtte, then to DVa, then to Brigitte. Then he nodded. "Very well. Would you like to accompany us, Brigitte Lindholm?"

Brigitte jitterly nodded her head. "Yes, sir."

Reinhardt laughed. "Then I'll meet you at the RV if you decide to come around while I'm there. Oh, and before I forget, the satellite's broken. And before you ask, that was _not_ my fault! It's a story for when we talk."

Mercy giggled before eyeing Brigitte and mouthing, _It was his fault._ "Well, I have a meeting to attend to. Farewell for now, Brigitte. And remember that if you're head starts hurting, find me _immediately._ Ask around; the people here know who I am. Understand?"

Brigitte let out a relieved sigh. "Yes, Angela."

She nodded. Then she gestured for Reinhardt to follow her. "Now, tell me the rest of your story about the exploding pen."

"Huh? Oh, yes! Where was I?" Reinhardt trailed off alongside Mercy as the two of them headed towards the double doors. Brigitte watched them go until she noticed DVa smiling at her from the corner of her eye. She turned, but DVa looked straight ahead at Jeong.

Jeong analyzed the two before turning around. "Let's begin, shall we?"


End file.
